Summer Lovin'
by accidental murder
Summary: It's summer time in Mystic Falls, and that means, heat, parties and lots of drama.   AU/AH
1. Hot Tubs

**Summer Lovin'**

**It's summer time in Mystic Falls, and that means, heat, parties and lots of drama. Elena Gilbert finds herself spending more and more time with the irritating Damon Salvatore, and with emotions spiraling in all different directions, the two are walking into unknown territory. ( AU/AH )**

**I don't own anything vampire diaries related, but i'd really appreciate if you read and reviewed this. **

* * *

**I question not if thrushes sing,  
If roses load the air;  
Beyond my heart I need not reach  
When all is summer there.**

**- John Vance Cheney**

The soft grass towered high over the tip of Elena Gilbert's nose. She loved lying down on the forest green lawn in front of her house, just feeling the tips of the grass and looking up at the strange shapes in the clouds. Then sun beat down on her hard, and her little yellow sun dress was splayed across her. She missed this feeling, of floating in the air. Virginia's winters were filled with cold air and layers of light snow, and all Elena Gilbert wanted was the sun and the heat. She didn't really like the fact that she didn't own a swimming pool, but luckily, Caroline Forbes had one, and Elena intended to spend as much time at Caroline's house as she could. It was the most perfect little house on an empty street with a property no larger then the Salvatore's. And the bringing up of the Salvatore brothers was quite fitting, seeing as Damon Salvatore was now leaning over her, hand in hand with Caroline, both looking at her strangely.

"How's the weather down there?" He asked, raising and eyebrow. Elena looked up at the man. He was gorgeous, any girl's tall dark and handsome for sure. His eyes so blue and hair so shiny and black, no wonder Caroline fell for him. But of course, pretty boys could never have remotely respectable personalities. He was an asshole, but charming, and he had this way to him, where sometimes he would pretend to be all kind and sweet, but Elena knew better. It was all an act. Elena never actually understood why Caroline's mother, the sheriff hadn't already shot Damon down though. He was 24, while Elena and Caroline were just turning 18. If her parents were still around, they would never let the man in their house. Luckily Aunt Jenna was chill and really reasonable with boy expectations.

"It's warmer than up there." Elena said, sitting up with her legs still lying out in front of her. Damon held out his hand, and just as she went to take it, he slipped it away quickly. Caroline hit Damon with her free hand, then helped Elena up, smiling at her best friend.

"We were going to go swimming at my place, wanted to know if you'd join." Caroline said, brushing a couple strings of grass off of Elena's pretty little dress. Elena looked to Damon, then Caroline.

"And be the third wheel?" Elena asked, moving past Caroline and Damon towards the front door of her house, but the couple were close behind, and Caroline had dropped Damon's hand out of comfort for her friend.

"You can bring a boy if you want. Tyler's quite fond of you." Caroline suggested to Elena, leaning against the kitchen counter as Elena poured herself a cup of lemonade. Damon snorted, at this comment, leaning back on the fridge after Elena had put the juice back.

"That kid's a douche." He said, rolling his eyes.

"What about Bonnie?" Caroline suggested, looking to Elena hopefully, but Damon cut in before Elena could speak again.

"She hates me, Care, you know that." He protested, grabbing Elena's glass just before she put it to her lips, taking a sip out of it. Elena stole it back and hit him, downing the rest of the drink Damon so thoughtfully helped her with.

"Please Elena. I haven't seen you for like a week, I've been all M.I.A, I just want to hang out." Caroline whined, and Damon rolled his eyes, opening the fridge for something to eat. He picked out a little container of blueberries.

"Fine." She said, then looked at Damon. "Hey! No, those are mine." She snatched the blueberries from him after he'd popped a couple in his mouth and shoved it back in the fridge.

"Yay!" Caroline smiled excitedly. "Now, hurry up and get your bathing suit, we're leaving now." She said, pushing Elena towards the stairs, hitting her butt just as she hit the first step.

"Ow." Elena whined, running up the stairs to put her bikini on under her dress.

* * *

Elena stepped out onto the dark wood deck of Caroline's patio. The hot floor burned her feet slightly, so she made her way quickly onto the cement all around the large pool. It was shaped as a deformed 8, and a couple meters away from the pool, was an in-ground hot tub, the jets already running.

"Elena Gilbert, you look fine." Caroline applauded in her green bikini from the other side of the pool." Elena wore a strapless black bikini that showed off all of her assets.

Damon, who was lying on a towel on the cement, reading through a magazine, looked up at her through his dark sunglasses. He rose an eyebrow, never having seen her in that little clothing. "I do not disagree." He stated, nodding his head with his mischievous smirk clear on his face.

"Well, thank you." She said, sitting down on the part of his towel that was vacant beside his stomach, dipping her feet in the water slowly. The hot sun had warmed up the pool, but it was still cool on her feet, and Elena eased her feet into the water. Damon turned back to his magazine, and Caroline, who was lying on one of the chairs, went back to her tanning. Music was playing quietly in background, a song Elena wasn't familiar with, but she listened quietly. Then, she felt the shifting of Damon behind her, and he was taking off his shirt, already having had his black swimming trunks on, and got up.

"Come on, Gilbert, I need a hot tub partner." He said, making his way to the hot tub, walking in immediately.

"You can't go in by yourself?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. But he looked at her, expectantly.

"What if I drown? I'll need someone to save me. And Caroline's incapable of doing anything that involves lifting a finger." He said, making Elena get up and join him hesitantly.

"You shouldn't talk about Caroline like that, you know." She said, taking a seat across from him in the small hot tub. Their knees just barely touched each other's. Elena remembered when she used to date Damon's brother Stefan, and whenever she was at the Salvatore Boarding house, Damon was there with a new girl every day, getting drunk.

"You're right, that's unfair." He said, nodding in her direction, and lifting his sunglasses off so he could get a better look at her. "If it involves doing hair, make-up or picking out a cute new outfit at the mall, then will she lift a finger."

Elena ignored his comment, because no matter how funny Damon thought, he was, he really wasn't.

"What's with you, Elena Gilbert? You used to be so cool." Damon smirked, and she thought it might have been illegal to be that beautiful. She remembered those sad days when she could completely tolerate Damon Salvatore, and she puzzled as to how. Maybe because whenever she was with Damon, he was drunk or passed out on the couch, which was slightly better then this strange girlfriend Damon.

"I'm plenty cool, thank you very much."

"Elena, you're boring and you complain too much. You're smokin', but you don't have a boyfriend. You never get drunk anymore. Frankly, I miss old fun Elena." Elena didn't want to look at Damon, because if she did, she would have blushed. Damon Salvatore just called her hot and didn't think twice about it.

"You know you're only going to break Caroline's heart, right? Let's be honest, we're almost 18, you're almost 24. I'm puzzled as to how Sheriff Forbes hasn't arrested you yet. You're dating a minor Damon." Elena leaned in slightly, so that her hands held her face and her elbows rested on her knees. Maybe this was all harsh, but Damon was not a good man, she couldn't let him get off easy if and when he broke Caroline's heart. "You'll get bored fast, I know you're type Damon, I've dated many of them." He leaned in, mimicking her position, listening intently. "You're going to get bored, and you're going to go running to whoever's guaranteed to allow you in their pants." Elena was really getting into this pick-out-Damon's-flaws things, it was fun.

"Are you done?" He asked.

"Nope." She said, sitting back. "You like sex, Damon. I can tell that much by being around you once in a while. Once Caroline's too tired of giving into you, you'll be out the door. And I know you have this reputation as a heart-breaking single bad ass, but I won't let you step all over my best friend's heart." Then, she got up, ringing out her wet, and now curly hair. "Mark my words Damon Salvatore." She said, raising her eye brow, then getting out of the hot tub to go inside Caroline's house.

"Wow." Damon whispered. "I have got to get that girl."


	2. Inception

**hello guys, i don't know how good this chapter is, i think it's kind of weak,, but i hope you like the progression of their relationship. **

**thanks for the reviews and reads, i appreciate it!**

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**Breathless, we flung us on a windy hill, **

**laughed in the sun, and kissed the lovely grass.**

**-Rupert Brooke**

"You're so ridiculous." Damon lazily took up the entire couch in the Salvatore boarding house. Caroline had dragged Elena to hang out with her and Damon, and although Elena protested and did her best to make up any excuse possible, she'd been forced against her will to come watch a movie with them. "Damon, move." Elena said, hitting the side of her leg in frustration. Damon raised an eyebrow, looking to Caroline, who was making popcorn in the kitchen, then back to where Elena stood in very short shorts and a tight fitted tank top.

"Make me." He taunted, crossing his arms behind is head.

"Damon!" Elena complained, kicking him lightly. "Caroline, tell your boyfriend to move!" Elena called crossing her arms in front of her body, looking to Caroline, who was only half in her line of vision, for some support.

"Damon, move your ass over." Caroline yelled back, and Elena smirked, looking to Damon, who was smiling at her with some strange and mischievous smile. So she liked to play dirty, Damon could play dirty too. Damon sat up, moving over and when Elena proceeded to sit down beside him, he'd grabbed her waist and pushed her back onto the floor. She resisted as much as possible, and soon, it became a wrestling match, and Damon had her underneath him. Elena pushed as hard as she could on his chest and he tumbled over, Elena winning the advantage. She sat on top of him, smirking once again as she straddled his waist, pinning his hands above his head. Her long, wavy hair tickled the sides of his face and she giggled at him. Clearly, he'd let her gain the advantage because Damon could have been back on top of her in a second, pinning her back to the ground.

"Hmm. So you like to be on top." Damon pondered with a evil smirk.

"Ugh, you're such a pig." Elena groaned, rolling off of him to lie beside him on the floor. Caroline came in with the large bowl of popcorn looking confused. Elena sat up quickly, Damon not far behind her.

"He started it." She pointed out, and as Damon went to stand up, she kicked his feet swiftly, causing him to fall face first into the couch. Elena stood, pushing him aside to find exactly the spot she wanted to sit in on the couch. Damon got up on his knees slowly, scoffing at the small girl's power. Elena Gilbert was one tough girl.

"So, what movie are we watching?" Elena asked as soon as Damon sat down beside her, and Caroline on the other side, placing the bowl of popcorn on Elena's lap so she could go put the movie in the DVD player.

"Either Inception, or The Expendables." Caroline said, holding up the movie cases.

"Oooh, Inception!" Elena exclaimed at the same time Damon yelled "Expendables" really loudly. They looked at each other in complete irritation. "Damon, that movie looks really boring." Elena complained, glaring at him briefly, then looking back to Caroline, pointing at Inception.

"Uh, no it doesn't." He argued back, and then he turned to Caroline, "What movie do you want to watch, babe. Expendables, right?" He asked Caroline, and she looked between the two sets of eyes that stared at her. Caroline shook her head and Elena raised her arms giggling in victory. She put Inception in the DVD player and sat down beside Elena, opposite Damon.

The girls watched the movie in total interest, while Damon just watched their reactions to the crazy special effects. Damon usually kept his gaze on Elena, watching as her eye lashes fluttered when she was startled or surprised, or really when anything in the movie occurred. Then, she flinched as guns sounded rapidly in the movie. She wasn't ready for the loud surround sound to kick in when something already loud occurred in the movie. When it was over, Elena bent over on the couch to stretch out her legs, and Damon watched her with mild curiosity. Elena Gilbert was a strange creature, and Damon couldn't deny the fact that she was very intriguing in every movement she acted out. He never looked at Caroline with this interest.

* * *

Elena looked over at Damon in irritation. They sat at the bar in the Mystic Grill, this time Caroline wasn't here. Damon was borderline wasted and he made little flirty comments about how pretty she looked tonight. Though truthfully, the alcohol only made Damon say what he would've held in.

"You should wear dresses more often, you have pretty legs." Damon mumbled, taking another sip of water poison he was drinking, and touched her thigh inappropriately, though Elena did seem to be teasing him with the way the tight black dress fit her every curve and ended just under her thigh. It glimmer tauntingly, and her high heels made her legs look even more appetizing. Her hair was straight and down, her lips a perfect glossy red color.

"You're so drunk." Elena said, hitting his hand away and snatching his glass from his other hand. She looked to the bartender and handed him the glass. "Cut him off." She told him, looking back to Damon, whose eye lids were slightly droopy.

"Why are you here? Surely you didn't get all dressed up to put a damper on my night." He asked, raising an eyebrow at her strange attire. Elena looked back at Damon, looking like she didn't really want to be discussing this with him in her drunken state. Damon rephrased the question this time. "Who is he?"

"Damon," Elena protested, but he cut her off with his dark glare. "Tyler Lockwood, the mayor's son. He's taking me out to dinner tonight, but Bonnie called me because she saw you looking absolutely wasted, hitting on random people."

"Tyler Lockwood, Elena?" He asked astonished, she hadn't actually noticed how close his face was to hers as they remained at the bar. "He's a total douche."

"And you aren't?" Elena asked, raising an eye brow. "You're so lucky Bonnie called me and not Caroline or else you'd be in big trouble." She said, standing up, getting away from him. "Look, I'm going to be late, but let me drop you off at your place, I don't want you doing anything stupid."

"Look at that. Elena Gilbert cares about me!" Damon smiled happily, but she knew this was only the alcohol in him talking. "I'll take you up on that offer." He said, grabbing his leather jacket and following her out of the Grill.

As soon as she reached the boarding house, she looked at Damon. "You're up." She said, unhooking the seat belt for him due to the fact that his hands were really shaky.

"Elena." He looked back at her, his eyes looking somewhat glossy in the street light. "Thank you." He said, leaning over to kiss her, and while Elena wasn't actually expecting this, she mentally sighed in relief as he only kissed her cheek. She smiled at him and he drew back.

"You're welcome, Damon." She whispered, watching him get out of her car, and walking into the large expanse of the Salvatore property. She frowned slightly, but immediately restarted the engine, speeding off to the restaurant for her date with Tyler.


	3. Party

**Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it.**  
**- Russel Baker**

"First of all, you are not wearing that to a party." Bonnie said in annoyance, staring at Elena, who wore a knee length floral dress that showed nothing of Elena Gilbert's perfect body. "Second of all, I'm not coming." She said, watching as Elena sighed, unzipping her dress and stepping out of it.

"Come on Bonnie, I never see you anymore, I need you to come with me." Elena complained, stepping into a cute red dress. It was tight on her body, a sweetheart cut, reaching just past her thighs, sowing the majority of her legs. There was the tiniest trim of black lace around the top and bottom of the dress, and that lace also covered her waistline like a belt may. She glared at her best friend, rolling her eyes as Bonnie ignored her pleads.

"Well, you've been spending all your time with Damon Salvatore, it's not like I'm voluntarily going to join you." She spat, checking herself out in the mirror, then turning to Elena. "Let me do your hair." She said, dragging Elena to her and Jeremy's joined bathroom. Bonnie began her work on Elena's dark brown hair, and Elena never questioned what she was doing.

"Do you think I actually want to hang out with him? The only reason I tolerate him is because Caroline loves him, and I'm planning to be there for her when he breaks her heart." Elena said, doing her make up while Bonnie finished up her hair. It was wavy, but two pieces of hair at either side of her face were braided back to tie into a small elastic band at the back of her head. Her make up was just black eye liner and eye shadow, her lips a nude color, almost the color of her skin, but with a little gloss to it. Elena looked to Bonnie. "Please, just come with me. I'm sure Tyler invited that cute new kid, Luca."

"You know I'm not into anyone." Bonnie said, and the door to the bathroom was abruptly opened and Jeremy walked in.

"Hey." He smiled, his gaze leaning mostly to Bonnie, then changing to Elena. "Uh, I was just about to ask you if you were going to Tyler's tonight, but it seems that you are. What about you, Bonnie?" Jeremy asked, changing his vision from Elena back to Bonnie, who fumbled with her fingers.

"Well, I wasn't going to, but our sister is very persuasive, so I think so." She shrugged, smiling to Elena through the mirror.

"Yeah. That and stubborn." Jeremy gave her a quick smile. "See you there then." He said, before turning and closing the door behind him. Elena turned back to Bonnie quickly, smiling.

"Yay." She squealed, "Now come on, I have the most perfect color dress for your skin tone." She said, darting out of the bathroom to find Bonnie her dress.

The Lockwood estate was nicely lit with pot lights and street lights, and as more and more cars appeared in the ridiculously long driveway, Elena pondered whether or not she knew half the people attending the party. Elena knew Caroline would never miss an opportunity to get wasted and have fun, which meant her and Damon would be attending. She was sure Matt Donovan, one of her old exes would be attending, which she was grateful for because her and Matt are still really good friends, but she knew there was still some feelings on Matt's part. Obviously, Tyler was around somewhere. Elena didn't exactly know how she felt about the boy. She could compare him to Damon easily, but she knew Damon's quips and witty one liners would always be more charming than Tyler's. Tyler was a tad nicer than Damon, which wasn't really a hard task, but he still held his bad boy appeal.

Elena also knew that around here somewhere was Stefan. They were in a sort of a stand still friendship. It was awkward to be around him, due to the face that they used to really like each other, maybe even love, and Elena wasn't sure how to go about a friendship with him. Dealing with one Salvatore right now was just as much as she could take.

They entered the Lockwood mansion, already knowing that this party was not going to get busted. The area was fairly secluded, and although a usual mayor's house may be watched by cops, the estate never got interrupted during nay parties. And they Lockwood's had plenty of parties all year round. These parties though, were somewhat classier than most house parties. The clothes were nicer, the alcohol was top notch, and there were even waiters. Bonnie looked entirely uncomfortable in the silver summer dress that she wore, and even in this heat her stares were cold. Elena nudged Bonnie into a smile as they neared Tyler, who was standing by the door in jeans and a black t-shirt. He smiled at the girls, his eyes wandering to Elena. No one could deny she was the more gorgeous people in Mystic Falls.

"Hello ladies. Thank you for coming. Drinks are in the kitchen." He smiled, and it seemed Bonnie had wandered off already because she was no longer standing beside Elena and Tyler, but she was talking with Jeremy.

"Want me to get you something?" Tyler offered, and Elena nodded, watching the attractive boy drift off to the kitchen to find Elena a beverage. She stared straight ahead at the group of teenagers that had formed in the main foyer. Elena sighed, brushing her wavy hair out of her face as she leaned against the railing to the staircase.

"Fancy meeting you here." Elena hadn't even noticed Damon's assumed position right beside her until he first spoke.

"You knew I was coming, Damon." She murmured, still not turning her face towards him, staring straight ahead at a bunch of boys mingling with some already drunk floozies.

"Yep. I just like saying that." He offered, and she turned to him with an eye rolling kind of smile. "You…look like you could use a drink." He observed, turning to stand in front of her.

"I got it covered, thanks." Elena said, looking around the house for Tyler. "Where's Caroline?" she asked, looking back to Damon who looked ridiculously handsome in his usual clothes, dark jeans and a dark gray button up. His eyes looked especially blue today.

"I don't exactly know." He replied, briefly looking around the room, then an annoyed look played on his face when Tyler stepped in, handing Elena a glass of alcohol. "Tyler." Damon greeted stiffly, looking directly at him with a piercing cold stare.

"Damon." He nodded, looking back to Elena, "Come on, I have a friend I wan you to meet." He said, grabbing her hand and towing her away. Elena followed compliantly, but not without another glance at a irritated Damon, who now stood in the main foyer looking alone and awkward. And Damon Salvatore didn't do awkward.

Tyler ushered Elena into what looked like a study, where the doors were already closed and there was only a few other boys and no girls except Elena. They were all smoking, and nothing of the cigarette variety, and there were bottles of more expensive looking scotch on the desk. Elena downed hr fruity drink quickly, setting it on a side table. "Klaus, this is Elena Gilbert." Tyler introduced, and Elena looked up to see an extremely attractive blond boy look her way.

"Elena." He smiled a boyish grin. "Nice to meet you, Tyler's told me all about you." Klaus said, taking her hand and kissing the back of it.

"Klaus is one of my friend's from out of town. He's moving to Mystic Falls and attending Mystic High in September." Tyler explained, taking a glass tumbler and filling it with bourbon. Strangely, all Elena could smell was Damon. His certain smell of alcohol, aftershave and men. At this, Elena smiled, but she covered it up by looking to Klaus.

"It's a pleasure. Though I don't know why anyone would want to move to a place like this." She joked, but Klaus took it a little more serious than Elena had intended.

"I like small towns. It's a change from the loud, noisy cities. I just cant stand them anymore." Klaus muttered, pulling a joint to his mouth to breath it in.

"They get sort of, boring, after a while." Elena said, quickly wondering if she was at all challenging Klaus. But then he smiled, holding up the joint for her to take. She debated mentally for about 3.4 seconds, then took hold of it, following suit. She could already feel her mouth begin to get dry and she took one more after a few seconds, then handed it back to Klaus, who took it eagerly.

Elena had sort of missed the fun, party side of herself that used to come out to play a lot once upon a time. She snatched the joint from Klaus taking one more puff. She could feel her lids slightly drooping at her sudden highness. The room slowed down, and every movement Tyler took looked extremely lazy.

"I think I need to find some one." she said, smiling and turning on her heel to walk out of the study, leaving the group of boys behind, including Tyler. Elena didn't exactly know what she was looking for, but as she made her way through the Lockwood mansion, she finally found a couch to sit down on. And it was only a coincidence that beside her was a raven-haired man with pretty blue eyes.

"Elena." Damon greeted, and Elena looked around slightly, finding no sign of anyone she particularly knew.

"Daaamon." She slurred, from the mix of alcohol and marijuana. He looked at her strangely and all she could do was giggle. "What?" she asked, leaning back and closing her eyes a little bit so that she could see him, but she could give into the peaceful state she was in.

"Are you high?" He asked, and suddenly Damon's body was very close to hers and she wasn't expecting exactly how short the distance between them was.

"Maybe." She said in a sing-song voice, giggling again. Damon rolled his eyes, standing up from his seat on the couch so that he could lift her up effortlessly, and she could lean against him a little.

"Let's go find Caroline." He whispered into her ear, and the farther they moved from the room they used to be in, the quieter and emptier the house was. They were probably entering the part of the mansion they shouldn't necessarily be in. Elena stopped abruptly, staring at him like she was mad at him or something.

"No." She said, stubbornly, frowning.

"Elena," Damon started, but he was cut off by a hard, passionate kiss. Elena soon had him backed against the walls and the hardness of her kisses turned soft, and Damon started to respond slowly. She put her hands on his chest, his falling to her ass (typical Damon) and she continued her assault of his perfect lips. He ran his tongue over her bottom lip, and she granted him access. And although she tasted and smelt of weed, Damon didn't really care because Elena Gilbert was making out with him.


	4. Groceries

**For him in vain the envious seasons roll, who bears eternal summer in his soul.**

**- Oliver Wendall Holmes**

There wasn't much more to say. If Elena Gilbert had never been more confused and regretful. Or maybe that was just what she told herself. She wouldn't lie and say that kissing Damon Salvatore wasn't one of the best things she'd ever experienced. She'd just leave out the part where he was an amazing kisser. Not that she'd tell anymore she kissed Damon in the first place. That would be bad. Very bad, and she didn't intend on telling anyone anytime soon, which meant she was stuck with this memory all by herself. Except of course Damon.

She didn't know what possessed her to do such a thing, she'd blame it on the pot and alcohol, but she knew that wasn't the truth. She didn't even want to think about what happened at the party anymore. Or after.

* * *

_Elena didn't think she'd ever find herself in this exact predicament. As he hands knotted harder into Damon's sleek black hair, she wondered if Damon was just kissing her because he was bored of Caroline, or kissing her because he wanted her. But Elena couldn't find the courage or desire to pry her lips off his to ask him. So she continued with the long, passionate kisses she gave Damon, and he continued grabbing her butt. She didn't realize until Damon moved his lips from hers and down to her neck that she needed to breathe. As she inhaled and exhaled rapidly, Damon pressed open-mouthed sloppy kisses down her neck, sucking and nipping at her skin. There would surely be a hickey there in the morning. _

_He kissed his way to her collarbone, and down the middle of her chest. Elena could never remember liking this as much when she was with Matt or Stefan or even Tyler. With her back pressed against the brick wall of the back of the Lockwood estate, Elena gripped even harder onto Damon, this time the lapels of his leather jacket. A beeping came from his pocket and then one from the side of her bra. _

"_Ignore it." He whispered, and Elena realized it was their phones. His hands travelled just below the hem of her dress, slowly moving the fabric up farther and farther. Both of their phones beeped again. Damon rolled his eyes as Elena took hers out of her bra, taking the call. _

"_Hello?" Elena giggled as Damon's hand slinked further, and it seemed he had already replied to a text, and was now kissing her neck playfully. "Elena Gilbert is busy right now, please leave a message after the beep. BEEEEEEP!" Elena giggled again, and Damon thought it was rather cute. _

"_Elena, where the hell are you?" Bonnie asked, sounding pissed, but also slurring due to her drunken state._

"_Bonnie, I'm busy can you call back later?" she asked as Damon started kissing her cheek, slowly inching towards her lips, making Elena quiver slightly. _

"_Oh my goodness, whatever. I'm cabbing home. Find your own way back." She spat, turning off the phone. _

"_Ooh, Bonnie's reaaaaaally mad at me." Damon only replied with a moan as his lips found his way back to hers. They sank down to the floor in front of the lake, her on top of him, straddling him and she bent her body down to kiss his neck and lips. Her hands skillfully unbuttoned his shirt and she pulled of both his shirt and leather jacket, kissing her way around his bare, solid chest. He laid his head back on the grass in total serenity, closing his eyes and her lips and hands made their way around his body. She fell off his body to lie beside him for a second, until her was now on top of her, doing the same to her as she did to him, going a little father this time, as to slinking his hand up her dress and pulling her panties aside…_

* * *

Elena tried to shake the thought from her head. They hadn't had sex, but when they took a cab back to her place, they almost did. Until Jeremy almost walked in on them in a very compromising state. Luckily Jeremy knocked before intruding into her bedroom, and she had quickly pushed Damon off her bed and pulled the covers over her half naked body.

And now, she sat on the floor in the middle of her hallway, banging her head against the ground because she had just gone a tad farther than making out with her best friend's boyfriend. She called this out. She knew Damon would cheat on Care, but she wasn't expecting it to be her who he cheated with.

Elena didn't know how to respond to anything right now. She regretted what she did with Damon, but how could she regret something that felt so right? How were she and Damon supposed to act around each other now? How could she talk to Caroline and lie to her face when she makes up some dumb excuse about making out with Tyler all night? Elena didn't know how to go about this and she didn't want to, so all day she ignored calls from Bonnie and Caroline and Tyler and even one from Damon. She'd tell them that her phone was dead and she couldn't find her charger.

"Hey, 'Lena? I'm going to the grocery store, you wanna come with?" Jeremy asked, taking Elena out of her dream-like state. She looked up at Jeremy, her brown eyes inspecting her brother's.

"Uh, yeah. Sure." Elena pulled her hair up into a pony tail and threw on some leggings and a plain white, baggy v-neck and followed Jeremy out of the house to her car. It only took a few minutes to get to the store and Elena put on her sun glasses so that she could be free of the annoying sun. She basically followed Jeremy around, pushing the cart and watching as he loaded things into it.

"What's with you?" He asked. "You've been so quiet all day." Jeremy stated, looking to his sister with curiosity.

"I did something stupid, that's all." She muttered, picking up a package of cookie dough and throwing it in the cart. He looked at her strangely once more, then continued in walking beside her as they pushed the cart. A sharp turn made Elena swerve, hitting something softer than the shelf.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry." She said quickly.

"It's fine." He mumbled.

They both stopped immediately, brown eyes instantly hitting blue ones. They just sort of stared at each other for a second.

"Elena." Damon stated. Elena couldn't exactly talk because she didn't know what to say. When words finally escaped her mouth there was only one syllable.

"Hey." Jeremy looked between the two of them, then nodded, taking the cart from Elena and speeding away.

"We probably need to talk." Damon said, and it had been clear that it was awkward for him too and Damon Salvatore didn't do awkward. "Look, about what happened," He started and followed Elena as she began walking around the store.

"Nothing happened." She said, not looking back at him, but when he sped up and was soon standing in front of her, she looked up at him with her chocolate eyes. "Nothing happened." She repeated, and Damon smirked. She knew what he was going to do before her did it.

He gripped her arms hard and pulled her against him in a painfully hot kiss. When he drew back, she saw some of her red lipstick smudged on his lips. She laughed lightly, wiping it off of him. "Nothing happened."


	5. Mornings

** There shall be eternal summer in the grateful heart. **  
** Celia Thaxter**

* * *

"So this is you being kind?" Elena asked, pressing her head back on the pillow.

Damon shrugged mindlessly beside her, his head on the pillow next to her. "To Caroline, yes." He said, looking over at her, and smirking his beautiful smirk.

"By not telling Caroline, we're being kind to her?" She asked, sitting up, slowly to look down at him. "We're not being kind we're being selfish, and I don't know how much longer I can do this with you." She was standing now, looking herself in the mirror in front of her bed. She fixed her shirt which had been ruffled and crumpled around during their make out session. She also fixed the jean skirt that was completely pushed to one side, her black tights slightly out of place. "What are we doing anyway?" She looked at Damon through the mirror as soon as he sat up to watch her. He was shirtless, and his black hair looked slightly damp in the morning light, which brought out his pretty blue eyes more than she thought possible. He got up, and walked to behind her to put his arms around her waist.

"We're having an affair. Isn't it fun?" He asked, kissing her neck and her shoulders and her back. She groaned, trembling pleasantly under his touch.

"Damon, Caroline is my best friend, I don't know how much longer we can keep this going. This guilt's going to kick in anytime soon." She whispered as he spun her around quickly, getting a giggle out of her, and picking her up and settling her on the counter below the mirror. She laughed and he smiled, a real Damon smile, which she's positive she's never seen before.

"Have I ever told you how gorgeous you are?" He asked, placing his hands on her waist.

"Damon," She warned, as he kissed her chest, smiling as he spotted the hickey she had on her neck.

"I really need to stop with these hickeys. Someone's going to notice them." He said, stopping the continuous kisses to her chest as he drew his head back to look up at her.

"I have been telling you that for a week, but you don't like to listen." She scolded.

"Never do." He smirked, wrapping his arms around her again.

"You are a horrible person." She said, pressing her forehead against his. She liked this strange sweet Damon. She'd never seen him before while he was around Caroline. He was usually just a total dick, but in this past week he was being so nice to her, she was just muffled by it.

"So are you." He responded, kissing her quickly, then pulling back, letting her hop off the counter.

"I have a serious question." She said, walking across the other side of the room to her closet, where she removed her shirt and replaced it with a gray dress. She then tossed Damon his shirt that was conveniently laid out on the floor. "Do you love Caroline?" She asked, walking into the bathroom, keeping the door open so she could still talk to him. The house was promised to be vacant for the whole morning, so Elena and Damon had until 12:00 to be with each other. She brushed through her tangled hair, and covered her hickey as much as she could.

"I…" Damon walked into the bathroom after her, splashing cold water on his beautifully pale face. "I don't know." He finished, drying his face with a towel, then tousling his hair a little. "What are you up to now? Caroline's with her mother all day long." He said, leaning against the counter.

"No can do. I have a lunch date with Mystic Falls' resident douche bag." Damon groaned looking down at her. "I don't get why you hate him so much. Tyler's actually sort of nice." She said, fixing her make up.

"Elena, he's a total asshole."

"Not unlike you." She mentioned, hitting him softly before leaving the bathroom, Damon followed, jumping on her bed. "You need to go." She said, throwing some contents into her purse before looking at him. "Get out of my house." She said, and he rolled his eyes, getting up and she followed his moping body down the stairs.

"Come over tonight?" He asked sweetly at the door.

"No."

"Elena" He begged.

"Fine." She agreed, and he opened the door, but not before kissing her softly. She watched him look around the yard and then disappear down the drive way and to the car parked on the street.

* * *

Tyler was already had just pulled around the corner when she watched Damon leave. He'd had a cute little date planned at the Grill, then they would play some pool, and he would take her home. She was sort of excited to see Tyler, and she'd never actually had a huge crush on Tyler. She liked that he was a little different than Damon. He was sweeter to female company, while Damon, as usual, was a total asshole to everyone.

Elena had spent the entire day laughing with Tyler, he'd already said a few hilarious jokes and she thought she would puke from laughing so hard.

"Wanna shoot some pool?" He suggested, after they'd both finished their meals. Elena smiled at him brightly, standing and nodding. They'd made their way over to the table and she saw a flash of raven hair. Damon sat with the high school history teacher, Alaric Saltzman, but he was looking at her while he swallowed a class of alcohol. She gave him a small smile before turning back to Tyler.

Nobody told Elena that Tyler was so much better at pool than she was, or else she wouldn't have agreed to play him. She was awful, and she hadn't played in a while. Tyler had sunk all of his balls, and he moved on to hers, where she had only sunk three. She always caught Damon watching her, but she did her best to enjoy herself without that notion.

* * *

"Hello!" she called, opening the door to the Salvatore house and letting herself in. She put her purse down, still wearing the outfit she had wore for her date with Tyler. Her hair was a little tousled from her habit of brushing it back.

"Baby, where are you?"

Damon appeared in the kitchen with an unhappy look on his face. His eyes flitted around his eye lids and his lips were caught in a stern line. Alaric appeared behind him with a curious expression on his face.

"Uh." Elena looked for an excuse but she couldn't find one.

"Stefan's not home, Elena." Damon said, then turning to Ric. "She'd in denial about the whole Stefan leaving town thing, she likes to come here and sit in his bed." Was Damon trying to make her sound like a creepy stalker? Elena nodded, and they both watched as Alaric frowned, shrugging and leaving the house.

"Elena Gilbert, you are such an idiot." Damon said, running his hands through his hair. She collapsed on the couch with a groan.

"Now my history teacher thinks I'm a total creep."

"Nah, Alaric isn't quick to judge." Damon said, crawling on top of her. She frowned, but didn't resist his kisses. He drew back and she huffed, shifting underneath him. "What's up?" He asked, rubbing her cheek with the pad of his thumb.

"I hate all this doing nothing. All we do is make out. I don't even know what we are." Elena complained, and Damon rolled off of her, taking her hand and dragging her into the kitchen with him.

"Stop whining. How about I take you out tonight?" Damon moved around the kitchen, finding some ice and placing it equally between two glasses.

"Alcohol? Really?" Elena said, leaning against the counter.

"Umm, actually," He moved to the fridge, taking out a large jug. "Orange juice." He said pouring it in the glasses and handing her one. "So, what do you say? Let me take you out." He said, wrapping his arms around her waist. She nodded, smiling at him sweetly. She drank some juice, then kissed his lips.


	6. Dinner

**iknow, it's short. sorry. okay, don't mind however many errors you found in the last chapter because i think i was sleeping when i wrote it. hope you enjoy this little chapter, the next one will be pretty large. **

* * *

**"Oh, the summer night Has a smile of light And she sits on a sapphire throne." **  
** - Barry Cornwall **

"Does nothing satisfy you?" Damon asked, staring across from her at a dark, candlelight restaurant just outside of town. "Look how romantic this is, I've never brought Caroline to a place like this before." Elena's eyes lifted to meet his.

"Well, I just hate that we can't go out in town without somebody seeing us." Elena said, looking away from Damon to focus her eyes on the fries she was finishing off, as was he.

"Why don't I just go break up with Caroline, and you go break it off with Tyler so we can go out and about in Mystic Falls already?" He asked, staring her down with those beautiful eyes he managed to obtain. Stefan used to talk about his mother sometimes, and he would always describe her as this beautiful woman with bright blue eyes and glossy black hair. She figured that's where Damon got his looks from, and Stefan from their father. Elena looked back up at Damon after finishing her fries.

"You know that that's not an option Damon." Elena spoke in a scolding matter, as if the thought was completely ridiculous.

"Why the hell not?" He exclaimed loudly, making a couple tables around them look up from their dinner. He looked around then back to Elena.

"You know why."

"No. I really don't. Please, enlighten me, Miss. Gilbert."

"Caroline is my best friend. You're her boyfriend. If she ever finds out about this, she'll make my life hell. It's like a suicide mission, Damon, you and I both know Caroline would never take this well." Elena explained, as if this was all just common sense. Which in her eyes, it definitely was.

"And Tyler?" Damon inquired, leaning back in his seat when he too finished his fries.

"I like him. Definitely boyfriend material." She parted her lips slightly in a small smirk and she raised one eyebrow, following suit by leaning back in her chair as well.

"Elena Gilbert, you little tease." Damon said, in a complimenting manner, he grinned at her beauty. Her hair was ruffled slightly and sort of waved out due to the summer humidity. "So, my lovely, how about you come back to my place tonight? Tell Aunt Jenna you're sleeping over at Bonnie's, you could use a good night's no rest."

"Frankly, Mr. Salvatore, I don't think I like that kind of talk. Maybe I'll call on Tyler Lockwood. His bed could always use another body." Elena said, standing up, keeping her eyes off Damon, and before she could see him, she felt his lips on the back of her neck.

"Just try and resist, baby." He whispered hotly against her soft skin, and she felt this may not be the greatest conversation for a restaurant. Elena watched as Damon put down a few bills, then looked to her, grabbing her hand and towing her outside. As soon as they stepped into the cool air of the night, Damon pushed her against the side of the building, immediately attacking her lips. She moved her lips away from him for air, so Damon took this time to assault her neck expertly with his tongue and lips, occasionally biting her. She giggled childishly, digging in her bag for her cell phone.

"Sh sh sh sh sh. I'm calling Jenna." She whispered as soon as she entered her home phone number. She was giggling all the while, due to Damon's consistent growls and kisses by her neck. "Jenna. Hey. I'm ah…" She paused when Damon quickly captured her lips. "Bonnie's. I'm sleeping over at Bonnie's house tonight so don't expect me home until… a while." Damon's hand slipped up her dress and she squeezed her eyes shut instantly at his cold hands on her warm thighs. "I'll call you tomorrow! Bye!' she rushed, stuffing her phone in her purse and kissing Damon.

* * *

In the morning, Elena swore she had bruised thighs from where Damon's hands gripped her too tightly. She rolled over slowly, grasping the covers over her naked body. Damon's eyes flicked openly slowly to look at her. After a few seconds of just a needy stare, Damon smiled, a real smile, and Elena laughed, kissing him quickly.

"I'm good." He prodded and Elena rolled onto her stomach her head in her pillow.

"Hmm, not that good." She smirked into the pillow and Damon moved his body on top of her, laying his chest against her back.

"You're screams begged to differ." He whispered in her ear and she snorted pushing him off of her to get up and find one of his shirts.

"You know, I bet Tyler's better. Maybe I should call him up." She buttoned up one of his black shirts, placing her hair in front of her shoulders.

"Maybe you should." Damon said, getting up to find his boxers. "I'm getting kind of tired of being you're little boy toy." He said, and she smirked, exiting the bedroom, leaving Damon to trail behind her.

She sat down at the kitchen table and watched as Damon began to make her pancakes. "Don't we have that Founder's thing tonight?" He asked, mixing the gooey substance, adding chocolate chips.

"Shit. I totally forgot about the Founder's dinner." She said, standing quickly.

"Relax," He settled her back in her seat. "Let me make you breakfast." He eased her, turning back to the frying pan he was now operating.

"You're taking Caroline, you know that right?" She asked, turning to him quizzically and he nodded back to her.

"And you're taking…"

"Tyler." She finished, coming up behind him to wrap her arms around his waist while he make her food. She kissed his bare back, then rested her head against it. "That's too bad. You'll have to go through the whole night without me on your arm." She said sarcastically, but he knew that both of them wanted that.

"Oh, the horror!" He turned, still attached to her, wrapping his arms over her shoulders. He pressed sweet kisses to her nose and she smiled against his lips happily.

What they both weren't expecting, was to hear a loud and abrupt clearing of a throat from the kitchen door frame, and a tensed body leaning against it. Damon and Elena jumped apart automatically, Damon hopping backwards into the stove.

"Stefan." Elena whispered, looking up at the boy with guilty eyes.

"Ow. Shit. I burnt myself."


	7. Founders

**No price is set on the lavish summer;**  
**June may be had by the poorest comer.**  
** - James Russell Lowell**

Elena looked between the brothers. Damon was wincing in an over exaggerated pain, though she saw the panic in his eyes, while Stefan had one eye brow raised and a small, mysterious smirk on his lips. She was suddenly aware of how little clothing she was wearing, so she looked to Damon.

"I'm gonna go." She said, heading upstairs to change and gather her belongings. Stefan turned to Damon when she was finally out of earshot.

"So you're dating Elena now?" He asked, walking passed his brother to grab a pancake off one of the plates. "I thought you two always hated each other."

"We're not dating." Damon replied, stepping away from his brother curiously. "Why are you back in town, Stef?" He asked, leaning against the kitchen counter. When Stefan didn't answer, Damon nodded, gazing towards the stairs. "I'm going to go change." He said, going the same way Elena had exited.

"You're pancakes are burning!" Stefan called up the stairs after his brother.

As soon as Damon entered the room, his eyes hit Elena, who was bending over to grab her underwear from the floor. She looked up at Damon and her eyes held complete rage. She stepped into her lacy booty shorts and righted her body to look at Damon, who was sliding jeans on. "What the hell, Damon? Why is Stefan here?" She asked, running hands through her hair and she re-straightened the dress she wore the night before. Damon rifled through his drawers for a clean shirt to wear.

"I don't know!" he whispered loudly, rolling his eyes. "I haven't seen, or spoke to him in half a year, Elena." He stated, pulling a black v-neck over his head. "He's not even supposed to be here, he was living with our Uncle Zach. Who I now have to have a word with." Elena ignored any of Damon's attempts to be remotely calm in this situation. She would have to now deal with Stefan's knowledge of the two's hidden relationship. This ran the risk of someone slipping the word to Caroline or Tyler, who Elena had obtained a steady relationship with in the past week or so. There was too many emotions entering Elena's mind at once and she didn't know how to deal with it all.

"Damon, I don't know if we can do this anymore." Elena said, looking up at him, and she watched as his eyes darkened slightly.

"We just have to be more careful." Damon said, and she looked up at him sadly. She saw through his mask of hatred towards his brother and right to the sadness of her leaving him.

"Okay, fine." She said, "But you're taking me out for lunch." He nodded, watching her pick up her bag and leave the room. Stefan was still in the kitchen, and he gave her a little wave before turning around to open the fridge. Elena hesitated, but continued out of the house, and to her car.

* * *

"I have a problem! A really big problem!" Bonnie called from inside Elena's closet.

"Mhmm?" Elena sounded uninterested, sprawled out on her bed, reading a magazine, while Caroline's head rested on her stomach, texting someone on her phone. Caroline giggled when she felt the vibration of Elena's voice shudder through her own body.

"I have no dress and no date." Bonnie said, throwing a couple of Elena's dresses to the ground.

"Why don't you go with Jeremy?" Caroline asked, and Elena shot her a pointed look, but Caroline only shrugged.

Bonnie walked out of the closet to look at the two girls on the bed. "Would that be okay, Elena?" Elena hesitated, looking up at Bonnie's hopeful face.

"Sure, why wouldn't it be?" Elena smiled briefly. "That takes care of one problem, how about the other? Do you want to go shopping?"

"Not enough time." Bonnie complained. "Caroline, do you have any dresses I could wear?" Caroline had to think this one through, going through her mental wardrobe to find something for Bonnie.

"Yes!" Caroline stood immediately and Elena sat up on her bed. "Come with me." Caroline said, grabbing Bonnie's hand. "Elena, are you joining?" They turned back and Elena shook her head briefly.

"Can't. Lunch date with Tyler." The girls nodded and left the house. Elena needed a shower since she only had time to change when she got home. She hopped into the shower quickly, and when she got out, Damon sat conveniently on her bed, waiting for her. She jumped slightly when she saw him, and he smiled up at her towel-clad form.

"You're early." She said, bending over to kiss him on the lips. He smiled into her lips, and he slyly pulled on the knot in her towel and it fell to the ground. "Damon!" She complained, pushing him backwards onto the bed and grabbing her towel again. He laughed, sitting back up and fixing his leather jacket.

Elena stepped into black silky underwear and a matching bra. Her hair was only damp now, and she sat on Damon's lap mischievously, hooking her legs around his sitting form. She kissed him passionately and slowly, and as he registered her moves, his arms wrapped around her waist.

"Maybe we should skip lunch." He mumbled, as she kissed his neck. Just as her hands reached his belt buckle, she stopped and pushed his body backwards again, getting off of him.

"Nah, I'm hungry." She smirked, walking around her room to find something to wear. She threw on jean shorts and a tank top as he recovered from her teasing.

She picked up her diary, quickly jotting something down. "Writing about me? Damon asked, getting off her bed.

"Mmm, just about to." She smiled. "Dear diary, have I ever mentioned how much I hate Damon Salvatore?" She said aloud, pretending to write that in her book.

"Don't lie now." Damon warned playfully.

"All I've done is lie, Damon. To Caroline, Tyler…"

"You're not dating Tyler. You know he's just a prop to make me mad." Damon cut her off immediately.

"Oh is he?" she asked, standing up and closing her diary, setting it down on her bed. She moved closer to him seductively. "Let's see just how mad I can get you." She was so close, but when he dipped into kiss her, she moved away so his lips met the corner of her lips.

* * *

"Elena! Tyler's here!" Aunt Jenna called from the bottom of the stairs, and she could hear Jeremy shuffling around the room next to hers because he was going to be late for picking up Bonnie. Elena looked herself over one more time in the mirror. Her hair fell in gentle ringlets down her back and over her shoulders. She wore a bright red dress that started out in a sweetheart neckline and hugged her body reaching a few centimeters above her knees. She wore red lipstick, and black high heels, which only elongated her legs even more. There was no doubt Elena Gilbert would be the most beautiful girl at the party. With her doe eyes and lush brown hair, who wouldn't be in awe at her beauty?

Tyler looked up at her, and Elena never realized how dashing he looked in a suit. He smiled as she walked down the stairs, coming to a stop right before him. He could smell her light perfume and it smelled just like her. He placed his hands on her hips and kissed her calmly on the lips, and Tyler was never really good with calm and gentle. She smiled as he pulled away.

"You looked beautiful." He said, releasing her from his grip.

"And you look quite handsome yourself." She smiled, fixing his tie. "You know, you didn't have to come all this way just to pick me up and drive right back to your house." She said, raising and eyebrow, but taking his hand and leading him into the kitchen, where she grabbed herself a bottle of water from the fridge.

"I wanted to." He said, stealing her water for a sip. "Let's go, shall we?" He asked, and she nodded, allowing him to escort her to the car.

When they arrived, music was already playing loudly throughout the house and tons of people were gathered all over the estate. Elena looked around, taking Tyler's arm as they stepped onto the property. As they neared the house, the first set of eyes that fell on her belonged to Caroline. She smiled at her best friend and continued her conversation with a couple other girls. The only words that were audible were "…and Damon was so good about it…" and Elena did her best to ignore the rest of what Caroline was saying. Tyler tugged her inside the house, where she was greeted by Carol Lockwood. As they entered the hall, there were twenty or so people around, some dancing while other were grouped together conversing.

Elena spotted Liz Forbes, the town's deputy, and Elena almost went to say hi until her eyes met cold blue ones. Damon was talking to the sheriff, and he looked up and couldn't help but gawk for a few seconds. One of his eyebrows rose, and he held up his glass of champagne at her. She smirked, her eyes flashing to Tyler, then back to Damon in one swift movement. Neither Liz nor Tyler spotted their actions, and Damon smirked back at her, once again turning his attention to Liz.

The property was filled with numerous drunken people but most sober just trying to make themselves visible in this town. Although this was a highly exclusive party primarily for the founding families, the town always invited the most prestigious people in the city for a few hours, and then they leave when dinner is being served.

* * *

Elena looked around the room at the few people left. She took her seat at the large table beside Tyler and Jeremy. The table was already filled with the Fell Family, the rest of the Lockwood family, Jenna, the Forbes and then Damon, who sat across from her. Elena embraced the bottle of wine that was set out on the table, already sipping her second glass. Damon gave her a questioning look, but nonetheless she continued her drink. Jenna and Jeremy were arguing like children beside of her, Tyler was speaking to his mother in an irritated manner, the Fell twins were complaining about being vegetarian, Caroline was trying to get them to shut up, and Damon was making some witty remark about something stupid. Elena sat there quietly, enjoying her wine, and her view of Damon.

"So Damon, I hear you're thinking of joining the council." Carol Lockwood said in her creepily unnerving tone. "This city could use a man like you around here." She continued, and Damon smiled politely.

"I think that'd be lovely." He said, and Elena admired him. Although he was a total dick, he put on an amazing show. She didn't understand how he was so good at lying. Of course Damon would never willingly take up a position in Carol Lockwood's crazy committee. He hated that kind of stuff.

Tyler whispered something in Elena's ear, and Damon looked up immediately when she giggled. She looked at him smiling, yet listening intently to whatever Tyler was saying. Damon shifted uncomfortably in his chair, and she felt his feet connect with hers. Oh great, footsie. Caroline seemed totally ignorant of her surroundings as she spoke to Damon, who was clearly more focused at playing with Elena's feet under the table. Elena kicked him, watching as he frowned.

"Ow." He said quietly, and only Elena was paying attention, so she giggled again. She stood now, turning away from the guests.

"If you'll excuse me." She said, shooting a glance at Tyler, who smiled and stood too, "Me too." He followed suit and Elena couldn't help but noticed the jealous look on Damon's face as they exited the room. She grabbed his hand and ran upstairs, dragging him into his bedroom. He had her quickly against the wall, kissing her hard, and Elena realized she'd never really hard core made out with Tyler before. And she never realized how good he was at it. Tyler turned her around quickly, getting a giggle out of Elena, and she fell backwards, him on top of her, onto his bed. She quickly unbuttoned his shirt, one of her hands placed on his abs, the other holding the back of his neck. One of Tyler's hands was cupping her face, while the other was just under her dress, resting on her thigh.

Tyler kissed his way down her neck, and Elena almost didn't notice when the door flung open until she heard an embarrassed giggle. Caroline and Damon stood in the doorway, Caroline draped over Damon like a curtain. Damon's eyes instantly connected with hers, and Elena looked nervously up at Tyler. "Ooops, sorry." Caroline said, turned around and dragging Damon out of the room. Tyler fell off of her to lie down on the bed beside her.

"Well, that girl certainly knows how to ruin the moment." Tyler said, and Elena glanced at him and then stood.

"I'm gonna head home with Jenna and Jeremy. I'm super tired. I'll call you later." She said, leaving the room abruptly. She ignored the noises coming from the room over and made her way down stairs.

Jenna and Jeremy were already getting ready at the front door and at this moment, Elena felt she had impeccable timing. She grabbed her jacket and followed her family out of the house.

* * *

The knock on the door at three in the morning woke Elena up. She got up out of bed, hearing the desperate cries of annoyance from Jeremy. Elena stumbled down the stairs, not quite seeing clearly. All the lights were still, off, so when she opened the door and her eyes landed on Damon, his eyes red and his shirt half open. It was apparent that he was drunk, since he still had a bottle of rum in his hand, and he looked her up and down. Elena felt naked in front of him, wearing only a short black slip.

"What, Damon?" She asked, leaning against the doorframe with a groan. He looked at her for a few seconds, like he was hesitating.

"Can I sleep here tonight?" He asked, his lips looked slightly pouty and his eyes looked vulnerable.

"Why?" Elena questioned, concerned.

Damon looked at her legs, then back up to her face. "Caroline knows."

* * *

**Well, the chapter's finally up. i'm sorry, i had a total crazy writer's block for the past week, and ive been busy with school so i didn't have time to update. **

**it's finally out of my system. tell me how you like the chapter. was it too soon for Caroline to find out? do you want to see Caroline comfront Damon and Elena? how do you think Caroline found out about them? WILL I EVER BRING ALARIC INTO THE STORY? (i'll just leave that to linger, 'cause me loves some Alaric)**

**revvieeew! **


	8. Tears

**"I never promised you a happy ending.**  
**You never said that you wouldn't make me cry**  
**But summer love will keep us warm,**  
**Long after our autumn goodbye." **

** - Unknown**

Elena looked over at Damon, who was sleeping on the other side of her bed. She was hesitant to let him inside when he showed up on her doorstep last night, but when she reasoned, she thought of how it'd be just him and Stefan. Stefan, who'd ratted on them, Stefan who basically ruined their relationships with a lot of people. It was early in the morning, and Elena had already requested that Damon leave early. After some convincing, he caved in, then collapsed on her bed. Elena's internal clock went off half an hour ago, but since Damon was so wasted last night, she decided to prepare herself for oncoming craziness. She'd retrieved a bottle of water and Advil for his massive hangover. She also closed all the curtains so that it wasn't too bright when he woke up.

"Damon, get up." She whispered, tapping his half covered chest. His shirt was unbuttoned from when he was convinced Elena was trying to seduce him last night, while she was trying to loosen his tie. He didn't budge at all, so she hit him harder and called his name louder. Damon's eyes opened unwillingly and he turned over to Elena too quick.

"Ow!" He gripped his head in pain. She smiled and handed him the medicine. "You're too good to me." He said, swallowing the pill. Elena nodded and pursed her lips. "Spit it out." He said, shrugging and looking at her.

"How do you know that Care knows?" She asked, frowning. "Caroline doesn't have the balls to be upfront about something like this, so how did you find out?"

"Caroline needs to find a new hiding place for her diary." He whispered, kissing her cheek and getting up to retrieve his jacket.

"Don't do that." Elena said sternly, getting up to follow him downstairs.

"Do what?" He asked innocently.

"Kiss me. Stop using your charm against me." She stated, opening the door for him. Damon analyzed her face, but she was completely serious.

"You can't change everything, Elena." He said, leaning in for a kiss, but she moved away, looking up at him with doe eyes. Damon's expression was generally hurt, so he nodded a couple times before walking out the door, leaving Elena standing there.

* * *

The day had gone by extremely slow. Elena had ignored every phone call and text message that came her way. All she did was sit in front of the T.V, watching reruns of stupid shows. She did her best to refrain from thinking of Caroline, Tyler and Damon at the moment.

The front door opened loudly and Jeremy and Bonnie stumbled in laughing. They stopped immediately when they spotted Elena on the couch.

"Hi." She said, not even bothering to smile. Jeremy gave her a little nod, while Bonnie rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Bonnie." Elena started, but it was too late and they were already up the stairs. Her phone rang for the fifth time today and she looked down at her caller ID. Damon. She took in a large breath, and pressed ignore, tossing it across the room in a dramatic growl. Jenna entered the house coming from work a few minutes later. Luckily, Jenna wasn't exactly in the loop and she didn't know what was going on in Elena's love life. Elena wouldn't be getting the 'really, Damon Salvatore?' looks or the 'how could you do that to Caroline?' lectures.

"Hey, kid." Jenna sat down on the couch next to Elena.

"Hey, how was work?" She asked, knowing Jenna's constant struggle with her childish personality was difficult to handle with her job.

"Amazing, actually. I got an offer on your father's old building. You know, the one with the electrical issues. The man said it wasn't a problem, so he must be rich 'cause that place was completely broken." Jenna said, smiling and looking at the T.V.

"I need to get out of this house, want to get some ice cream? Elena asked, looking over to her already nodding Aunt.

* * *

All during their trip to the ice cream store, Elena had debated whether or not to tell Jenna about the situation she was in. Surely Jenna would understand. Her aunt had stated many times how attractive she thought Damon was, maybe Jenna would reason, because she understood the temptation. But not once when the subject turned to Tyler, did she mention what had been going on for the past few weeks. Elena didn't have the courage. After a long day, Elena found herself in her bed, sitting with her diary. She read the last entry in her head.

_Dear Diary, _

_I'm terrified. I love Damon Salvatore and I don't know if he returns the feelings. He's just so painfully sexy that my heart skips a few beats every time I see him. I think he's really awesome, and I really hope we can continue to have amazing sex._

_- Elena. _

Elena laughed out loud when she saw this. How Damon could have gotten to her diary was a mystery. She missed him. That was the truth. She'd been avoiding everyone, and after being so used to falling asleep beside Damon, having sex with him, even seeing his face all day long, she really missed him. A day and she was going crazy, this man had the strangest effects on her. Her phone rang and she jumped, frightened by the sudden noise. She looked at the Caller ID.

Caroline.

* * *

Elena entered the Forbes' house not bothering to knock. Caroline was sitting at the kitchen table, hands gripping a glass of water so tightly that Elena thought it would break. She looked different. She wasn't wearing make up, and her hair was a mess of curls. Her pale skin looked even paler and she had light bags under her eyes from no sleep. Elena walked slowly over to the table where Caroline sat.

"Hi. Thank you for talking with me." Elena immediately said, taking a seat across from Caroline. Blue daggers shot up at her, and if looks could kill… Elena thought better of returning an unpleasant glare, so she looked down at her fingers and decided to wait until Caroline spoke first.

"If you were anyone else I wouldn't think twice before cutting you out. Being hated by me is social suicide, Elena. You've already been down that road, I don't know why you'd bother driving down it again." That hurt more then Elena thought it would.

"Look Caroline, I just want you to understand a couple things before you cut me out of your life." She said, looking at her best friend or probably ex-best friend now. "Caroline I feel terrible about everything I've done. I know I hurt you and I hurt Tyler and I am so sorry about everything that happened. I've felt guilty ever since it started…a-and I just don't know what I can say that can ever make you forgive me."

Caroline didn't look like she was buying anything. "How long have you been sleeping with my boyfriend? How many times?" She asked sternly, raising an eyebrow.

"Caroline…" Elena started.

"Oh my God, that many times!" Caroline stood in outrage. Elena didn't know what to do. She could lie and say it was only a couple times, and that would come bite her in the ass, or she could tell Caroline the truth and the number of times they'd slept together would kill her. So Elena strayed away from that area of the subject.

"I am so sorry, Care." She whispered, afraid of how strong Caroline's outburst would be.

"Oh fuck you and your sorry ass, Elena, because sorry is never going to save you now. You've slept with the only man I've ever loved and all you can say is sorry? As if I would forgive you for the shit that you've pulled?" She yelled in Elena's face, and frankly, the brunette deserved it. "I can't even believe you, you slutty ass bitch. Get the fuck out of my house."

"Caroline." Elena's tone was calm. "Please."

Caroline cut her off with a loud scream of frustration and she threw her glass against the kitchen wall in anger. Elena looked at her infuriated friend, then left the house, watching as Caroline sank to the floor.

* * *

It was a couple days later when Damon showed up on her doorstep.

"Go away." She said, closing the door in his face. She turned and made her way to the kitchen, but Damon opened the door and followed her into the house.

"You haven't returned any of my calls or texts in the past two days. I missed you." He added, shrugging.

"Damon, get out." Elena said, grabbing a glass of water and a couple pills. He didn't ask questions, knowing that was pain medication and that she was taking it because of her massive headaches. He had those too.

"I love you."

It seemed like the world stopped moving. Her back was to him, and she stayed like that, immediately stopping what she was doing. She didn't dare look at Damon because she sensed the vulnerability in his voice and she could only image what state his eyes were in.

"No you don't. You may love my body, and love that I'll sleep with you, but you don't love me." She stated, turning slowly to allow her eyes to hit his. The vulnerability was quickly wiped away with frustration.

"But I do, Elena!" He said, hitting his hands on the counter hard. "I want to be with you."

"Well you can't." She said sternly, her nostrils flaring slightly.

"And why not?" He yelled at her.

"Because it's not worth it!" she yelled back, squeezing her hands so hard that her nails made little marks in the skin of her palms. "Love isn't worth it!" anger flooded her veins. She wasn't angry that Damon thought he loved her, she was angry because she didn't know how to handle it in any other way. "This pain isn't worth it for me, or you or Caroline or Tyler!" She lowered her voice but it was still loud and angry. His lip twitched and she watched as he growled, hitting the walls and he walked the hell away from her. She stumbled back against the wall behind her, sinking to the ground.

Jenna came home to find Elena sitting against the wall, a steady stream of quiet tears clouding her vision. Jenna immediately fell to the ground next to her niece and hugged her. Elena sobbed into her shoulder. All the emotions of the past week came out of her system right now. She took in a deep breath and looked at her Aunt.

"Get me out of here, please." She whispered, and Jenna only held her tighter.


	9. Lake House

**Summer set lip to earth's bosom bare,  
And left the flushed print in a poppy there.  
- Francis Thompson**

"So, who else were you banging behind my back?" Tyler raised an accusing eyebrow. Over the past few weeks Elena had grown to really like Tyler, which was the worst part about all of this. He was her boyfriend, she really liked him. And then she goes and messes everything up with Damon.

Elena sat quietly across from him, looking down at her water.

"You thought I wouldn't find out?" Tyler yelled at Elena. Damon's eyes flickered up from the bar. It took every inch of restraint he had not to get up and beat Tyler to a pulp for yelling at Elena. "Elena, you're an awful liar. I'm not an idiot; I can put two and two together. You and him have been off in your own little world for a while now." Tyler said, and Elena's lip quivered. Damon should have been with Caroline right now, begging for her forgiveness, because he truly did love Caroline, but instead he was here at the Grill, drinking away. "Why wouldn't you tell me? Why would you lead me on like that? Our relationship just started, you could have put an end to it right then." Tyler stated furiously, and Elena finally spoke up.

"Because I like you Tyler!" she yelled. They were both standing now, yelling in each other's faces, the whole restaurant was captivated by their argument.

"Apparently not enough." He cut in.

"Tyler, I'm sorry!" She screamed, and it was obvious that she was crying because her voice cracked and tears streaked down her cheeks. Tyler turned abruptly, shaking his head and leaving the Grill. Damon got up immediately, but when he approached Elena she squeezed her eyes shut and turned away. "No. No, I think you've done enough."

That was the last thing she whispered before following suit and disappearing out the Grill.

* * *

Jenna looked over at Elena sadly. Her niece would be gone for the rest of the summer, and she was going to miss her. Jeremy stood beside her without Bonnie (who seemed to follow him everywhere nowadays). Elena smiled at the two.

"You'll see me in a month and a bit, guys. Don't worry." Elena said, rubbing Jenna's arm.

"Yeah. Are you sure you'll be okay at the lake house?" She asked, as any concerned guardian would.

"I'll be fine. It'll be good for me. I need to get away from everything."

Jenna nodded and hugged Elena, then watched as Elena proceeded to hug her brother.

"Drive carefully." Jenna warned, as Elena picked up her suitcase and walked away from the Gilbert house for the rest of the summer.

Elena drove away from Mystic Falls and away from all the madness in her life, and she didn't intend on driving back until school started up again, and she was forced to some back to the dreary old town in Virginia.

* * *

The lake house hadn't changed at all since she was a little girl. Elena always remembered certain details of every inch of the house, and after her parents died, it seemed Jenna hadn't put in any effort to sell the place. It was an old cottage looking house just off the docks. Although the lake was small, and you could see over to the other house on the opposite end, there was a large amount of land in between. Elena missed this place and when she finally drove up the gravel drive-way, the old memories of her parents and Jeremy came at her fast and hard.

She in took a large breath before proceeding to open the door of the house. She wandered a bit, and then finally before the flash of orange sun disappeared, she made it outside to the dock that overlooked the clean lake. She sat down, her feet just touching the water with the tips of her toes. It really had been a while since she'd been here. She missed the place. Even though she thought it was a crap hole when she was a kid, she never really realized how large and calm it was. It was a big change from the small, yet crowded town of Mystic Falls.

It was quiet. The house, the lake, the city; all of it was too quiet. Elena couldn't exactly trust herself to be alone with her thoughts for more than a week and she was getting tired of sitting in the lake house and doing nothing. She couldn't call anyone to come up because everyone hated her. She decided the best thing to do, was to put herself out there. Sometimes, late at night she could hear music blasting from the house across the lake. Maybe it was time for her to get acquainted with some kids around the town.

The fourth morning of her arrival to the Gilbert Family Lake House, Elena decided to get out of the house and visit the grocery store that was 10 minutes away. It was packed for a Monday morning, though everywhere was packed because of summer break. She walked slowly down the aisles, carefully checking for anything she may need to stock up the fridge. She picked up a jar of peanut butter, but being clumsy Elena, she dropped it on the floor and it rolled to a stop as some man's feet. He picked it up and her eyes skimmed up his body and to his face.

It wasn't a man, but a boy. Her age or maybe a couple years older. He was blond, his hair in a shag like style just covering his pretty green eyes.

"Thank you." She smiled, taking the jar from him.

"No problem, I stand here all day waiting for gorgeous girls to drop peanut butter." He said flirtatiously with the nicest of Australian accents. She admired him already. Accents were Elena's kryptonite. She laughed at his joke.

"You look familiar." Elena commented, raising one perfectly arched eyebrow.

"Maybe that's because my family has owned the lake house across from yours for the past nineteen years." He shrugged with a sweet smile.

"Really? Oh." Elena tried to picture him when he may have been younger but she drew blanks. "I'm sorry I don't remember you." She said embarrassed, but the boy just laughed.

"That's okay. I was always inside most of the time. I'm Sam, by the way." He stuck out his hand.

"Elena." Her hand met his in a gentle shake.

"So," The two began walking down the aisles together, occasionally picking things off shelves and putting them in their baskets. "Where's you're family this year? I've only seen you out and about." He asked, and Elena closed her eyes briefly.

"My parents died last year." Elena said slowly, picking up cookies.

"Oh, uh, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked." He took it back immediately, with a panicked but sorry look on his face.

"No, no. It's fine." She said, "I've gotten over it. This place just brings back old memories." Elena shrugged, looking over to the boy.

"So why are you down here all alone this year?" Sam asked, as they made their way to the checkout, he stood behind her in line, and they both checked their food through one after the other. They walked together to Elena's car.

"It's complicated." Elena muttered quietly.

"Well, why don't you come over and tell me about it?" Sam asked hopefully and Elena smiled.

"Sure. Lead the way." She said, hopping into her car and following Sam's back to his lake house.

It was bigger then Elena's and more modern, but it was still cottage like and homey. They sat down on the couch together, enjoying the view of the sunny lake through the large window in front of them.

"Tell me your story." Sam smiled, leaning against the back of the couch.

"My best friend Caroline had been dating this older guy for a really long time. She always wanted me to spend time with her and Damon, and as much as I didn't want to be the third wheel, I wanted to hang out with her. I started dating this guy Tyler, and one night as his party, I got high, and I had a couple drinks, and I was a complete mess. I made out with Caroline's boyfriend Damon." Elena took a breath, allowing Sam to process some of this. "It sort of escalated and we started this affair. Caroline found out, I still don't know how, and completely cut me out of her life. When Tyler found out, he was so mad, and he has quite the temper, so I was sort of scared to even talk to him. They both went off on me… and I didn't know how to handle it. Then, Damon came by my house, and he said some things." Elena stopped, not wanting to recall this anymore. "He told me he loved me, and as much as jack ass he is, he doesn't lie. And that scared me. I felt these feelings for the man that my best friend loves, and it wasn't right. My other friend, Bonnie hates me because she loves Caroline, and she's always hated Damon. And she's dating my brother, Jeremy, so he hates me too. And my aunt suggested coming down to the lake house because I needed to get away so bad. And here I am. All alone for the rest of the summer."

Sam took a few moments to process this then he nodded.

"You shouldn't have been scared." He whispered after a pregnant pause. Elena looked at him quizzically. "Of your feelings for him. You shouldn't have been scared." He repeated. And maybe she shouldn't have. Damon always knew what he wanted, and it was obvious he wanted her. And she wanted him back. She wasn't sure of what she felt for Damon. One day she could fall head over heels for his sweet side, and the next she could hate him for his dick personality. But she's always liked him. She loved him.

_Woah_, Elena's thoughts stopped abruptly_. You do not love Damon Salvatore. He's a jerk and a man who cheats and he doesn't treat anyone properly. No one could love a man so cold_. Elena kept those thoughts in her mind, but she looked up to Sam.

"You're right." She whispered. "I should have told him."

They were quiet for a while, just watching the view. Sam let her think for a bit.

"So, I'm having a party later tonight," He said, when they reached the front door when Elena was leaving. "You should swing by; some fun would do you good." He suggested, smiling.

"Yeah, I think I will." She returned the smile. "And thank you. For listening." She added.

"I'll always be just across the lake." He smirked. She saw Damon for a couple seconds. Damon's smirk, Damon's eyes, Damon's hair. She shook him out of her head. _You won't be seeing Damon for the whole rest of the summer, Elena. Control yourself._ She thought, waving goodbye to Sam as she turned and got into her car.

* * *

The lake house that had once looked so peaceful, was now bursting with music and lights. People scattered all over the property, some swimming in Sam's side of the lake, most holding red plastic cups of what she assumed was alcohol. This was not one of Tyler Lockwood's sophisticated parties, this was just a house party with beer and sluts.

Elena smiled as she walked up the steps of the house. She wore a summer dress that cut low on her body and swayed slightly in the wind. It had a floral pattern and she wore a dusty brown belt with it. She looked around the house as soon as she stepped in. Searching for Sam, or at least one familiar face of a local kid. She couldn't see anyone she knew anywhere, so she continued to wander the house, picking up a drink on her way. She sipped slowly, not intending to get drunk at all tonight. She finally spotted Sam. He was huddled in a circle with a bunch of shirtless boys. He waved when he saw her.

"Elena!" He called her over, and the rest of the boys examined her when she walked up to him. "Boys, this is Elena." Elena waved at them shyly. They all seemed nice enough, most of them drunk, but what did it matter anyways? Elena never realized how many kids her age actually had a place around here. Sam put his arm around her shoulders and said bye to his friends, leading Elena outside, to the lake. They sat on the dock together, their feet touching the water, watching the kids jump in one after another.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Sam said, pushing her backwards so that she was lying down, and copying her motions beside her to look up at the stars.

"Wow. They're so bright up here." She whispered, tracing the stars with her fingers.

"Yeah." He smiled.

Elena sat up beside him and looked down at him suspiciously. "Why are you being nice to me? I'm not putting out, you know…" Elena's train of thought strayed away from the tracks.

"Easy, Elena. I'm not looking for sex or a girl. I just see your potential as a friend and think it's been wasted." He shrugged sitting up beside her. She rested her head on his shoulder.

"Thank you." She whispered.

* * *

**i'm iffy about this chapter. was introducing a new character (sam) a good idea or not? i think i'm just trying to shift the plot. let Elena have a good friend, nothing more than that. sorry for the lack of damon/elena. hopefully next chapter's better. i wanted to get Elena out of MF and let her relax a bit after all the stress in her life, i hope incorporating the lake house was a good idea. pleaaaaaase R&R!**


	10. Impulse

**Do what we can, summer will have its flies. **

** - ****Ralph Waldo Emerson**

Jenna swung the door open hastily still wearing her pajamas. It was 1:00 in the morning and someone had been knocking on the door for the last ten minutes. Usually in this situation, Elena would be the only one who actually got up and answered the door or the phone, but since then, Jenna had been giving Jeremy a break and allowing him to sleep.

"What?" she mumbled, before even looking up. "Damon?" She scrunched her eyes due to the automatic porch lights.

"Hello Jenna." Damon greeted, and it didn't seem like he had been drinking.

"What do you want? It's one in the morning." She asked, her eye lids barely open.

"Is Elena around?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. Jenna moved aside and motioned for him to enter the house. He did, and Jenna guided him into the kitchen, where she poured them both a glass of water. "I know it's late," he continued, sipping from the glass. "But I really need to see her." Jenna sighed.

"She's gone Damon."

"What?" he asked, placing his cup on the counter not that gently.

"She left town, and she's not coming back until school starts again. Look, I figured she told you when she left and I'm sorry you didn't catch her, but you have to give up Damon." Jenna shrugged. "I've heard about everything from everyone. It's a small town, gossip spreads but you have to face the facts. She left because of you. I don't know the nature of your relationship but she was a mess when I found her the other day and she was cursing your name all night long." Jenna saw the slight pain in his eyes. Elena didn't need this boy, who was almost her age, chasing after her teenage niece.

Damon didn't really know what to say. He rubbed his face and sighed. "Where is she?" he finally asked.

"Gone, and she doesn't want to be found." Jenna said, watching Damon nod and leave the house. She knew that boy wasn't satisfied yet, and Damon would keep prodding until he got what he wanted. Because he was stubborn and in love.

* * *

After a very long night, Elena rolled over on her bed to meet Sam's eyes. After the party, Sam had locked up the house and walked her home. Nothing happened of course, they talked for a bit then fell asleep watching T.V on her bed. Sam squinted at the light that shone through the windows and he pulled the blanket over his head, groaning. Elena giggled and rolled over. She was only wearing panties and a sweater, but she wasn't afraid of anything happening with Sam. Although she'd just met him, she'd realized that maybe there were a few nice guys and maybe she just needed to find one. She was sick of Matt, and Stefan and Tyler and _him_. She just needed a nice boy, whether it be Sam, or someone else.

"Come on, lazy ass." Elena pushed at his covered body. "Get up and let me make you some breakfast."

She ended up making him chocolate chip pancakes and lemonade.

"So, what are we going to do today?" Sam asked, and she turned to face him with a smirk on her face.

"Well, it's not like there's anywhere around here to go. Want to just stay in? Maybe jump in the lake later tonight?" Elena offered, and Sam nodded, tossing her a pancake, which she caught skillfully and deposited into her mouth.

* * *

"Jeremy." Damon greeted, taking the seat across from the younger boy at a booth in the Mystic Grill.

"What do you want, Damon?" He asked, looking up from the sketch pad that he had been drawing on.

"Why do you assume that I want something?" Damon asked, taking a sip from Jeremy's glass of water.

"Because you always do. So, what's up?"

"Where's your sister?" Damon asked, raising an eyebrow. Jeremy gave him a cold look.

"I'm not telling you. Go bang someone your own age." He muttered, getting up to walk away but Damon stood in his path.

"Want to try that again?" He asked, placing one hand on Jeremy's chest.

"She wants to be alone, Damon. Leave her alone." Jeremy sighed. "Look man, I don't know what went on between you and my sister, but she'd done with you. It's over, Damon. I'm sorry." Jeremy said, walking past the older man and out the door. Damon stood there a few seconds later.

"I haven't seen her in a while, where'd the bitch go?" Damon overheard Caroline ask Bonnie, and he moved slightly closer to their table, but out of their line of vision.

"Uh, the Gilbert Lake House. Jeremy said she won't be back until the end of summer. Thank God for that." Bonnie replied sighing. Damon was out the door and in the car before he could hear another word.

* * *

"Tell me about him. Damon." Sam asked, looking over at Elena, who sat in a wool sweater and bikini bottoms on the lawn chair beside his.

"I used to date his brother, Stefan." Elena said, grimacing a little. She hadn't seen Stefan around since her and Damon's encounter that one morning, but she sensed that he was still in town. Sometimes she heard people talking about him, but it would always be hushed when she would walk by. Or maybe she was just going crazy. "Damon was always around the house, getting drunk, getting laid. There were always girls all over the house, but I was never afraid of what that influence had on Stefan, because I knew he was only interested in me. Damon is an asshole. He doesn't care about feelings because he made everyone believe he truly had none. I didn't care for him; he was just my boyfriend's older brother." Elena looked up at Sam with a hint of hurt in her eyes. He figured all of this was just hard for her to re hatch. "A couple months after Stefan and I broke up, Damon started dating Caroline, who'd been my best friend for ages. I always told her that I'd spent enough time around Damon Salvatore to know that he was bad news. He was a jerk, and always sarcastic, never took things seriously. I told him she wouldn't matter to him, she was just an object. But she continued dating him and they got pretty serious. They were in love. At the beginning of summer, Caroline always forced me to hang out with her and Damon because she wanted to be with me and Damon. My friend Bonnie always refused to be in the same room as Damon, so she would never come with. I guess I knew Damon always had a thing for me, because he was always flirty, and really witty with me, but he never acted on it. Which was weird, because Damon always acts on impulse, it's unethical but then again so is he."

Sam watched her as she described him. Sometimes she would be in her own little world, smiling about something her and Damon had done, or something he'd said. This was one of those girls who didn't fall in love easily, but always ended up with the reformed bad boy. When Elena finally stopped talking she looked over at him curiously.

"What about you, blondie? Who broke your heart?" She asked. But Sam shook his head.

"No, we're not talking about that." He got up and grabbed at her hand. "Let's go swimming." He said, smiling, and she nodded removing her sweater and waiting for him to remove all of his other clothing. She grabbed his hand and they jumped into the lake together. It was getting darker, and they swam around, splashing each other occasionally. Elena jumped on his back to try to sink him, but he whipped her around so that she was in front of his body. She giggled placing her arms around his shoulders. She leaned in but he moved back a bit.

"Elena, what about Damon?" He asked, staring into her eyes and she swore she could melt in the accent.

"What about him?" She whispered back, and her lips crashed on his eagerly.

"Elena?" The two immediately stopped and Elena turned around to look at the figure standing by the lake.

"Damon?" She asked.

* * *

Elena quickly pushed away from Sam, and swam a little closer to the shore, then she got out, forgetting about a towel. He was stiff and she could see his jaw was locked as if she'd just slapped him in the face.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, not bothering to look back as Sam, who had gotten out of the lake and moved to behind her.

"I came to get you back, but apparently you've preoccupied yourself with someone else." He shrugged.

"Damon, it's not…"

"What it looks like?" Damon finished the sentence with his voice raised. "Of course not, you were just making out with another guy. It's exactly what it looks like and that's always how it's been with you." He lowered his voice but it was still angry and husky.

"Look man…" Sam started.

"Shut up." Damon interrupted, keeping his eyes on Sam.

"No, Damon, you shut up. Listen to me. We are not together. We never have been. I was sex to you, when Caroline wasn't around you came to me and it was just a fun way to sneak around behind your girlfriend's back. But you don't know me and we never had a connection other then sex. So if you came down here to say that you want to continue to have sex with me, the answer is no. I'm fine where I am and I want to be left alone. I don't need you, or Caroline or Tyler. I have myself and that's enough for me." She let out a much needed breath and Damon looked down at her.

"You done?" He asked, and when she nodded, Damon smirked. "Good." He said, and with a quick motion, his fist connected hard with Sam's jaw and Sam stumbled back in awe.

"What the fuck has gotten into you?" she yelled, one hand reaching to Sam's waist the other trying to swat away his hands so she could see his jaw.

Damon stumbled backwards, frowning in confusion. "I… I'm… I don't know."

Sam winced in pain and Elena forced him to walk, brushing past Damon and to the house where she could get him ice. Sam sat at the kitchen table holding an ice pack to his jaw.

"Ow. That was painful." He said, as she searched around the cabinets for Advil. Elena shrugged and continued searching. "Impulsive."

"Yep, that's Damon for you." She muttered, handing Sam a couple pills and sitting on the chair beside his, turning to face him. "Look, I'm sorry you got caught in the crossfire. Damon's impulsive, he does what he wants and doesn't care who he hurts. It's just him." Elena explained.

"It's not your fault. Look, I'm going to head out. I don't want to be around for the aftermath. I know he's lurking out there. I'll just drive back to my house and you call me if you need me." Sam said, and Elena watched him get up and leave the house.

She sighed. She'd have to face Damon now, and that scared her. Damon was dangerous when he was unstable and Elena couldn't help but think he could hurt her too. She got up and opened the screen door, walking down to the docks, where Damon sat on the lawn chair. She took the seat beside him.

"I don't get you Damon." Elena said, after a long silence.

"No body does." He replied, and she looked over at him, and he turned to meet her gaze.

"You shouldn't have hurt him. He was being a good friend, Damon. He listened to me when I spoke, and he was there to talk through my complicated life."

"He was sticking his tongue down your throat." Damon said painfully. "I don't call that being a good friend."

"I kissed him first." She cleared up. Damon rolled his eyes, and she didn't have to see it to know he was doing it. "Listen, Damon…"

"No. I'm tired of listening. You listen." He cut her off bluntly. "I may not know you're entire life story, but I've been around you enough to know what you're like. To know how you deal with situations and how you act. I know that you have a big heart, and I know that I don't. But I love that about you. The sex is good, but that's not why I love you. I love you because of who you are. What you do. How you do it. I love everything about you, and I'm pretty sure you're flawless because you're beautiful and you're smart, and funny, and cute and you care. I love that you care. I don't love people, Elena. I don't even love my own fucking brother, but I'm in love with you and you can't deny that there is something there."

"Can I talk now?" She whispered after a pause. Damon nodded, not looking up at her. Somehow in their conversation, they ended up standing facing each other. Elena tilted his chin up so he could see her. "You're the biggest asshole I have every met. You're a dick. And you're selfish and impulsive. And you're mean and rude and don't care about anything. You act like nothing ever hurts you. And you say stupid things. You're never serious and you always have something sarcastic to say. You're a jerk and an ass hat, and I hate…"

"Is this going anywhere?" Damon mused.

"…How much I like you." Elena finished. "I hate that you make me feel this great. And I hate…" Elena stopped. "There's been a hole in my heart ever since my parents died, and you've filled that hole. Somehow, our meaningless sex turned into real feelings. And I'll admit, I was scared to feel for you. You're a heartbreaker, Damon. It's what you're good at. It's what you've always been good at. And I don't want to be broken hearted after all the shit I've been put through."

"I wouldn't hurt you." Damon whispered.

"How was I supposed to know that?" She asked. Another silence commenced.

"So, what do we do now?" He asked and she looked up at him dazed.

"I don't know."

* * *

**okkaaaay thats chapter ten ! tell me how you liked it, i love to hear your reviews. sorry for how out of character elena may seem, and damon, but i really wanted to capture how strange their relationshop was and how they're both on two different pages. **


	11. Lists

**Oh, the summer night**  
**Has a smile of light**  
**And she sits on a sapphire throne.**  
** - Barry Cornwall**

"Just… come home. Please." He pleaded, and she turned to look at him, pulling her sweater over her head. She was undecided about Damon. Was all of this really something she could count on? Could she trust he genuinely wanted her back, or was it just some elaborate plan to get a jealous Caroline back?

"Why? It was awful there, I needed to get out. Everyone hates me, I can just stay there and watch their glares as I enter the room."

"And how do you think I feel, Elena?" He asked. "I was stuck there all by myself. You weren't there. You just up and left me."

"I didn't leave you. I left. There's a difference." She cut in.

"Not to me, there isn't. Call it what you like but it felt like you were leaving me." He shrugged, looking over at her. She met his gaze reluctantly.

"We were never a thing." She whispered.

"No, but we had something. If you thought we were such a bad idea you never would have kept coming back. You would have ended it that first night, but you didn't."

"I was high, and drunk."

"But you weren't incapable. Even when you lost your high you let me touch you. Jeremy was the only thing stopping me that night."

"Shut up." She snarled, storming back into the house. Damon was aggravating her. He could never… shut up, and leave things as they were. He followed her inside and she cursed.

"Okay. Look, I'm sorry. Maybe I don't know everything about you, Elena, but help me. Let me get to know you."

"Is that a good idea?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "Because last time we 'got to know each other' we hurt a lot of people."

"No sex. Let me be around you for a week. You learn about me, I learn about you. There will be no sex at all." Damon suggested.

"You can't kiss me." She said. Damon's expression fell.

"But..." He started.

"Then no." Elena cut off whatever he was about to say.

"Fine. No kissing. No sex. Anymore ground rules?" He asked sarcastically, and Elena threw a pillow at him, which he caught effortlessly.

"No lying." She whispered and Damon nodded.

"I can do that." He said confidently.

"Okay. One week."

The phone rang and both Elena and Damon's gazes fell to the little brown telephone on the kitchen counter. Elena shot him a look, but Damon was faster and stronger, and he beat her to it.

"Gilbert family lake house, how may I help you?" Damon sounded polite, but it was just a mocking tone.

"Is Elena there?" The male voice asked.

"Depends, who am I speaking to?" Damon shot back. The whole time, Elena was frantically trying to grab the phone from him, and he held her back with one hand.

"It's Sam."

"Sorry Scam, Elena… had to pee. I'll get her to call you back never." Damon finished, hanging up the phone quickly. Elena hit him, but he pushed gently at her forehead and she stumbled backwards.

"Damon!" she complained, "Why didn't you let me talk to him?" She asked.

"Uh, because faze one of 'Dig into Elena's Life' commences at exactly…now." He stated smoothly.

"Well can I just tell him everything is okay and you're not going to murder me in some creepy, disgusting way?" She gave him a look.

"Nope." He popped the 'P'. "Come on little one." He sung, pushing her into the living room.

* * *

"Number four: I hate cake." She shrugged at his confused and utterly unimpressed look. "I just don't like it."

"Okay, first of all, do you have problems? And second of all, what is your life's purpose?" He asked sarcastically, and his swatted him on the shoulder.

Damon had suggested they start out by giving stupid and useless facts about each other in list form. Even things the other already knew, and they would discuss it if they wanted to. Sometimes, Elena wouldn't even bother waiting for him to list something, she'd just ask him a question, and vice versa. She was actually intrigued by their little game now.

"What's with you and your brother? When you guys blew into town I never really got to ask Stefan about you. He didn't like to be in the same room as you, much less talk about you." Elena stated, leaning against the couch and watching the fire Damon had built.

"It's a long story." Damon said, but when he looked up to meet Elena's doe eyes, they told him that he had to talk. "Before our father died, Stefan was his favorite. Everyone loved Saint Stefan. He was a model child: helped out dad, followed in his footsteps. Never quit anything, never broke a toy. I, on the other hand…" Damon shrugged. Elena smiled lightly. Damon was always the bad boy, wasn't he? "I dropped out of school, broke everything, argued father over everything. He and Stefan had an unrealistic idea of life, I always threw in my two cents but they ended up back at my feet." Damon took in a breath. "When our father died, Stefan sort of took on his role. Even though I was the older brother, he was the mature one. Little Steffy did everything father would have asked. When we moved into our Uncle Zack's house, Stefan did everything he could to fix me. I was like one of my broken toys. I had no emotions, did nothing, said nothing."

"You were upset about your father's death, that's reasonable." She cut in, placing one of her hands on his. The last thing he wanted was her sympathy but he gave her a slight smile.

"No, I was upset that I failed him, and Stefan and my mother for that matter." Damon looked at her thoroughly, catching a light whimper come from deep in her throat. "I met a girl, Katherine. She was… amazing." Damon looked down. "Katherine was full of life and exciting. A brand new toy. But she was also a bitch, and selfish and didn't care about a lot. I fell in love with her. Turns out, so did Stefan." Elena's face dropped immediately. _Everything really does come down to the love of a woman_, she recalled something Damon had said to her around when they first met. "She was also dating my brother. Or not dating exactly, none of us were every really dating. Just…"

"Having sex." Elena finished in a small voice.

"Well, yes, but it was just like we hung out. Nothing ever established us as a couple, same with Stefan. It was a game we were playing, for her affection. We both fell in love with her, and fought over her. She. Chose. Stefan." His sentence was choppy, he was recalling things now, and it hurt him. Emotion. This was progress. "She told me herself. She wanted Stefan and not me. Surely I was better in bed than my brother, so I just didn't understand what it was. Why she was breaking me. All over again." Damon looked up at her. "Then she died."

That hit Elena hard. She wasn't expecting yet another death. "How?" She whispered.

"She died in a church fire. With twenty seven other people." Damon said.

"I'm sorry." Elena felt awful about everything. His whole life was a bad novel.

"I don't want your charity, Elena." He said huskily.

"I'm not giving you my charity, I giving you my compassion. My human emotion, Damon. Don't be afraid of emotions. No matter how crappy your life was, the hardest part is over, but you need to let yourself feel." She said, placing a hand on his forearm.

"I do feel, Elena. And it sucks."

Elena looked over at him sadly. "What was your mother like?" She asked. Damon smiled a genuine smile. "Mama's boy?" She asked, returning the smile.

"Guilty. She was amazing. I couldn't have asked for a better mother. She was beautiful and she cared so much. She made me feel like I was actually loved. It's too bad her life was cut short." Damon was smiling the whole time. "What about you? What happened to your parents?" He asked. She cringed slightly and he moved closer to her, facing her more. "Sore subject? You don't have to talk about." He shrugged.

"No. you're demons are out, why can mine be? I was at a party, late during the night. Some sketchy stuff was going on, so I called my parents to pick me up. On the way home, the car skipped and slid off Wickery Bridge. We crashed into the water. I survived, but they didn't. So my aunt took in Jeremy and I. Frankly, I feel bad for the girl, she never asked for any of this. She was trying to make it in school, and enjoy her life. She's not much older than you, you know." Elena looked up at him. He nodded silently. "I just… If I hadn't gone to that party, then my parents wouldn't be dead." She blamed herself.

"Don't talk like that. Fate is fate. We all die eventually, they just cashed in early." He said. "It happens."

* * *

Jenna looked over to Jeremy, who sat at the table eating cereal.

"It's been quiet around here." She muttered, pouring herself some Orange Juice. "Where's Damon?"

Jeremy snorted out a laugh, and Jenna joined in. But then they stopped laughing.

"No but really. No phone calls, no door knocks. It's been two days; shouldn't he be holding us hostage for information on Elena?" Jenna was serious.

"Or maybe…" Jeremy started.

"He found her." Jenna finished.

"Shiiiiiit." Jeremy drew out, and Jenna shrugged, continuing to drink her juice.

* * *

"Number seven: I refuse to swim in oceans." Elena stated. She and Damon had been playing Beer Pong, minus the beer for a half hour now. The red, plastic cups were filled a third of the way up with water, which they just didn't bother to drink after a while. Damon wasn't prepared to lose to a girl, but he was having his ass handed to him. Repeatedly.

"Sharks?" Damon asked, followed by a nod from Elena. "Hmm. Number seven: I have never been to the zoo."

Elena giggled, shooting the ball, hitting the back left cup. It plopped in and she raised her arms in victory. "I'll take you. My dad used to always bring me and Jer." Elena set up for her second shot, aiming for one of the three cups left. It bounced off, and Damon obtained both ping pong balls.

"Jeremy. Is he cool?" Damon asked, lining up for the shot. It failed miserably, luckily rolling back to him. "Yay. Trick shot!" he threw it behind his back, and Elena laughed because it was an awful throw and didn't even stay on the table.

"Yeah, He just likes to keep to himself." Damon took another shot, and it hit her first cup. She removed the cup and gathered the two balls.

"I need to find him a girl." He chuckled.

"Uh no. Knowing you, you'll find some high end stripper." Elena laughed, shooting.

"I found you didn't I?" He asked. She smiled up at him. He could be so cute sometimes.

* * *

**ssoo; chapter eleven, hope you liked it. damon and elena are making an effort to get to know each other now. stay tuned for a lighter chapter next, then the following one (which i have all planned out) will be fluffy with a side of drama/tragedy. thanks for reading; pleeease review!**


	12. Diabolical Plans

**Love is to the heart what the summer is to the farmer's year .**

**It brings to harvest all the loveliest flowers of the soul. **

** - Author Unknown**

"Why can't I sleep with you? I won't even cuddle!" Damon complained, following her into the bedroom.

"Why don't you just take Jeremy's room?" Elena asked, removing her sweater and pants, and she cringed when he looked at her half naked body. He turned away, because he didn't exactly want to be tempted only in the first couple days of the week. She cleared her throat and he turned around, finding her on her bed, wearing an oversized t-shirt.

"I don't know what Jeremy's done in that bed." Damon said, looked over to Elena with glaring eyes.

"So sleep in my parents'."

"Yeah, cause that's so much better."

"Damon, ew."

"Pleeeeeeease." He whined, and Elena rolled her eyes at him.

"Fine." She gave in, moving over in her double bed to give Damon some space.

"Thankyou, beautiful." He smiled, jumping into the bed with her. Elena rolled her eyes and turned her back on Damon. He rolled his eyes and copied her movements.

She woke up with an arm slung loosely over her waist and her head on Damon's chest. She squinted her eyes open and looked up at Damon, who was looking up at the ceiling in his own little world. She shifted away from him and he smirked.

"Morning."

"Why are you cuddling with me?" She asked, sitting up and groaning.

"Elena, when I woke up, you were on top of me." Damon shrugged, raising an eyebrow at her.

"I was not." She argued, and hit his shoulder. "I think. That's why I don't sleep with people; I have a tendency to do strange things when I'm sleeping."

"You were talking." Damon pointed out with a smile.

"What was I saying?" She asked, slightly embarrassed.

"I'm pretty sure you were having a dirty dream about me because you kept moaning my name."

Elena growled and pushed him hard, making him roll off the bed. "You're such a liar!" she roared, stepping over clothes to get to the bathroom. Damon watched her go with a smirk. At least she wasn't kicking him out. He heard the shower turn on and left her bedroom.

* * *

By the time her shower was done, Damon had already made her breakfast, and she was thankful because she was feeling slightly faint. He rolled a plate of chocolate chip pancakes over to her and she picked one up, taking off the slightly crusted outer ring and eating it. Then, she worked through the rest of the pancakes. Damon watched her quietly, eating a couple of his own.

"What?" She asked when she finally let her eyes meet his. He smiled a genuine smile at her, and Elena was a bit taken back because Damon only smirked.

"Number sixteen: You are the most beautiful girl I've ever met." He said, his blue eyes burning holes into hers. Elena blushed considerably, then brushed it off.

"Don't be ridiculous Damon, I'm sure you've slept with prettier girls."

Damon was completely serious now, and he shook his head. Elena smiled.

"Number sixteen. You have the nicest eyes I have ever seen." She said, continuing to stare into them, and he fluttered them mockingly.

"I know right." He smirked.

"Oh, there he is." Elena laughed, referring to Damon's old sarcastic self. He shrugged and chucked a couch pillow at her.

* * *

Caroline sat with her back against the bed's head board. She watched Jeremy pace back and forth then looked over to Bonnie, who was sitting at the edge of Jeremy's bed.

"Caroline, I'm not really sure any of this is a good idea." He said, placing both his hands on his head and brushing his hair back in frustration.

"Why not, Jer? We all know how stupid Elena is being right now, if we can help her, why shouldn't we?" Caroline asked, and Bonnie looked as if the wheels in her head were turning remarkably slowly. Caroline had to think this through. It was one thing to ruin her life, but for them to ruin Elena's life, it was just unneeded revenge.

"What are you thinking, Bonnie?" Caroline turned to her best friend, with those sad blue eyes. Bonnie sighed.

"I'm thinking this is a stupid idea, Caroline. We can't just drive down there and… and hurt her like that."

"Like she hurt me?" Caroline asked.

"Caroline, she paid for what she did to you. The whole town rejected her."

"But _he_ didn't." Caroline complained, standing up.

"Is that it, Caroline? You want him back? I thought this was about making Elena pay for what she did to you, but now it's about Damon?"

"Don't you say his name!" Caroline yelled at Bonnie. She drew in a strangled breath. "Look, Bonnie. She hurt me, they both did. And if you want to be a crappy friend and watch me drive up to her lake house all alone, then go ahead, but I'm going, with or without you." Caroline's whole body trembled with anger. Bonnie looked to her boyfriend, and Jeremy rubbed his eyes.

"And if we do, Caroline? What then?" Jeremy asked. "We're talking about hurting my sister; I'm not liking this idea at all."

"I take him back." Caroline shrugged.

"He's in love with her Caroline, anyone can see that. He doesn't love you anymore." Bonnie replied harshly but Caroline's emotions didn't change.

"I'll make him love me."

* * *

"So, what's the plan?" Damon asked, flopping down on the couch beside her.

"Plan for what?" She asked, not even looking up from her newspaper.

"Today, obviously." He said, lying down with his feet lying across her lap. Elena shrugged, and her eyes fell onto the spot of the newspaper that said 'Mystic Falls' in bold letters. Elena sighed.

"We're missing the Miss Mystic Falls pageant." She whispered, remembering when her mother had signed her up for that.

"You miss it there." He whispered back, taking her hand in his. She nodded silently. Damon wanted nothing more to take Elena back to Mystic Falls, but he knew he couldn't. She had to go back when she was ready. It would be easier, if they were together, but Damon knew Elena wasn't ready to face Caroline, or Bonnie or Jenna and Jeremy and Tyler. Too many people hated her. He kissed her knuckled in the gentlest gesture.

"I want to go home, but I can't. Not yet." She said, looking over at him, her doe eyes having the most innocent look he's ever seen.

"I know." He whispered against her hand. She dropped the newspaper and he pulled her on top of him. Her body rested against his, her head on his chest. One of his arms encircled her waist, while the other combed through her hair. She closed her eyes, finding peace with him.

* * *

**Sorry for the long hiatus. So, for a few chapters, i was unsure of where this story was going, but i totally know what track i'm on now. sorry for the wait, please review !**


	13. The Plan

**"Beach sand, perfect tans. Day walks, night talks. Sleepless nights, pillow fights, and spending every day with those who matter most." **

** - Unknown**

"Where's Elena Gilbert?" Carol Lockwood, head of the Founder's Day Committee, asked.

"Oh, she won't be attending the pageant, Mrs. Lockwood." Caroline informed, looking at the brunette sheepishly. Caroline considered blurting out something extremely inappropriate but decided against it. In the past month she'd managed to withhold certain urges she would have easily given into. Caroline Forbes learned the virtue patience. She leaned against the arm of her chair.

"Oh?" Carol muttered.

"Yes, you see, she's out of town, and she's gone to great lengths to allow no further contact. I assure you Elena wanted to be here, but she's doing some self-therapy rehabilitation thing and she wont be back in town until school starts in the fall." Caroline said looking around at the other familiar faces in the room. To her right were the Fell twins and their dates, and to her left was Heather May, some unknown non-founder-family girl with her date. And behind her was Stefan Salvatore, Caroline's date. At first Caroline was slightly apprehensive about asking the youngest Salvatore to escort her to the gala, but she managed to talk herself into it. Stefan was the most perfect gentlemen and she knew once word had travelled all the way to the Gilbert Lake House, Elena would speak up on the issue.

"Um, alright then, I guess we'll have to take her name off this list." Carol did so, erasing Elena's name on the Mystic Falls Pageant sign up sheet. Caroline knew Elena only put her name in because her mom had convinced her to. Miranda Gilbert was Miss Mystic Falls when she was a teenager, and she'd told her daughter it would only be right for her to be too. Guess that idea went down the drain. "So, I want you to grab your dates and head to the ballroom for the rehearsal. I'll be a there in a few minutes, I just have to make a couple calls." She assured, scurrying off in the opposite direction.

"Miss. Forbes?" Stefan held his arm out with a polite smile. Caroline took it, returning a smirk and the four couples made their way to the ballroom.

* * *

"Does this town have anything a tad bit fun to do? Geez it's worse than Mystic Falls here." Damon complained, walking beside Elena on the large sidewalks downtown.

"It's Virginia not Vegas, Damon." Elena muttered, cutting Damon off when she turned into the antique shop. She admired the place with the utmost curious look Damon had ever seen.

"Number twenty-five. I love antiques. My mom used to take me to that little store in town square every weekend. We'd by cool vases or old clocks that didn't work. Sometimes we wouldn't even buy anything." She said with a light smile on her face. "Hello." She greeted the old shopkeeper as soon as his head flew up. He gave a smile, and she continued to walk down the aisle of the small store. Damon trailed behind her, his face softening at her fond memories.

"Do you still miss them? Your parents?" He asked, and she stopped walking and turned to look at him.

"Everyday." She whispered, then continued walking. "Jeremy and I used to run around the house after school until my Dad came home. We were so exhausted when he finally arrived that we'd hug him and go straight to bed." Elena cracked a smile at the memory. Damon didn't say a word, just followed and listened quietly. "You know, being back at the lake house hurts more than I thought it would. All of their stuff is still there; I guess Jenna hadn't had time to box it all. I haven't been back since…"

"Since they died." Damon finished. Elena nodded as well, but once her eyes caught the old style telephone on the shelf, her eyes lit up in excitement.

"Number twenty-six. I love these phones." She smiled, her nails scraping against the dial, the pads of her fingers touching the silver metal of the phone.

"Let me buy it for you." Damon said, and she looked back at him with an eyebrow raised. "Well, I will anyways, so." Damon nudged her out of the way and grabbed the phone, immediately taking it to the cashier. He ringed it out, and put it in a bag for them. As they walked out to the street again, Elena's hand connected with his and she laced her fingers through his.

"You didn't have to do that." She said, swinging their hands at the same slow pace they were walking in. Damon smiled down at her.

"I wanted to."

* * *

Jeremy studied his girlfriend's face curiously.

"You know I don't want to do this right?" She asked. "I love Elena, no matter what, but if I don't help Caroline, God knows what she'll do." Bonnie sighed, looking in the mirror at her maroon dress. "Maybe going today is a mistake. Maybe we should skip it and just call Elena and Damon and tell them what's going on."

"Even I know that's a bad idea." Jeremy admitted, brushing back a lock of Bonnie's curly hair. "Let's just get through this and take Caroline to the lake house. From there, all we can do is help Elena as much as we can. Let Caroline take Damon."

Bonnie turned to look at him, fixing his tie slightly, and patting down the lapels of his suit jacket. "Are we bad? Am I a bad friend? Are you a bad brother?" Bonnie finally asked after a moment of silence, but they young boy shook his head.

"Caroline thinks the only way to hurt Elena is to take Damon back and prance him around like a prize winning puppy. We're lucky she hasn't thought of something worse to do to Elena. If she's not physically hurt, then I say fine. Pay back's a bitch but she had it coming for her." Jeremy shrugged.

"Let's go before I change my mind." Bonnie said, leading Jeremy out of the house.

* * *

Caroline stood in her long purple dress at the top of the stairwell in the Lockwood house. The rooms were brightly lit with the four o'clock sun. Light reflected off the white walls, contrasting with the dark of Caroline's dress and the paleness of her skin. Heather smiled at her nervously.

"Ready?" She asked, and Caroline nodded with a mischievous smirk.

"Ready to win." She muttered under her breath.

The Fell sisters had made their way down the stairs and the loud clapping of the audience made Heather jump slightly. It was obvious this girl wasn't used to being in things such as these. Her ancestors weren't founders so she had no use being in the Founder's Pageant. Elena was supposed to be here.

"Next we have Caroline Forbes and her escort Stefan Salvatore." There was hushed gasp from the crowd, but then she heard the similar, yet louder clapping and she made her way down the white steps. As soon as her eyes hit the crowd, she found Jeremy and Bonnie who looked slightly uncomfortable, staring back at her. There was not one person there that wasn't clapping. She took Stefan's hand and they made their way to the dance floor, where they waited for Heather and her date to arrive. As soon as the slow music started, Caroline's gaze fell on Stefan. She had to admit, he looked dashing in a tux. Not as dashing as his brother did, but he still had that Salvatore charm and appeal. Carol had been over the no-touch part of the dance many times. It was some kind of thing they used to do back when Mystic Falls was founded. She moved with grace, and as soon as the music lifted dramatically, Caroline's body and hands met Stefan in a tight embrace of dancing.

It was around eleven o'clock and Caroline looked to her mother annoyingly.

"So, mom, I'm going to sleep over at Bonnie's house tonight, so I won't be around for all of tomorrow. She's taking me out for a congratulatory lunch." Caroline smiled charmingly.

"Of course Miss. Mystic Falls." Sheriff Forbes smiled at her daughter, then watched the blonde teenager leave jumpily. Bonnie and Jeremy were already waiting in the car when she got there. Jeremy had offered to drive because he knew where the place was, and Bonnie sat beside him so that he wouldn't have to listen to the excited chatter of Caroline Forbes for four hours.

"Maybe this isn't such a good idea." Bonnie suggested, offering Caroline an out.

"No. I know it is. Let's go, Gilbert." She said, tapping Jeremy's shoulder from the back seat of her own car.

* * *

"I lost my parents too." Damon stated. "When I was sixteen."

"I'm sorry." Elena said, lying next to Damon in her bed. She felt the bed move when he shrugged.

"I had to do everything. We lived with my grandfather, but he was getting older and older. So I raised Stefan and cooked and cleaned. I didn't have to work because money had never been a problem in my family. But it was hard. I missed them. As soon as I was legal, I found comfort in drinking. I had always had sex, but now I had more and more. Stefan was worried."

Elena looked over at him, and he looked back at her.

"Then I met Katherine. She made me feel like the most important thing in the world. I loved her so much. Then I found out she was also banging my brother behind my back. When she died, I just felt empty. Caroline was a distraction, I never meant for it to get as serious as it did. When you asked me before, if I was in love with her, I don't think I was. If this is what love feels like, then no, I wasn't."

"You keep saying that Damon, but you can't expect me to just give my heart back to you. Because I don't love you. But I like you, a lot. Once we work through all the kinks, maybe I can love you. But it's not going to be this week or the next one. We need more time."

"We're young, we still have a whole lot of time left."

* * *

"Jeremy, it's getting kind of late, do you think we should grab a hotel and start back up in the morning?" Bonnie asked.

"No. We're almost there." Caroline shouted from the backseat.

"Caroline is this really such a good idea? Can't we think of other ways to get Damon back?" Jeremy asked, looking back at her.

"No, Jeremy. Now shut up and drive!" Caroline roared, getting impatient.

"Caroline…" Bonnie warned. Then, an insane amount of screaming came from Caroline's mouth and when Jeremy looked back to the street, the car connected hard with a large SUV. It flipped multiple times before it finally rolled to a stop. Upside down.

* * *

**cliffhanger. so i'm trying to incorporate Caroline in a little more, and she's being a little bad back in Mystic Falls. Be prepared for more drama, and more lovin' and lots more Damon and Elena. hope you enjoyed this chapter, please review !**


	14. Finally

**If a June night could talk, it would probably boast it invented romance.**

**- Bern Williams**

In the dull light of the restaurant Elena smiled at Damon, who was making some stupidly hilarious joke about something unethical and most likely offensive. He smiled back at her, sipping the bourbon that was in his hand.

"You're different." She muttered, placing her hand on his. He looked down at it like it was odd, like she'd never shown him affection, and his eyes wandered back up to hers.

"Would you like me to abuse you or something?" He asked expectantly, and she rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"I just mean, when you used to go out with Caroline, or when I was with Stefan, you were never this… free, this light-hearted. Everything was so serious and mysterious, but you're happy. I can see it." She said, looking deep into the ocean blue of his eyes. It was true. Whenever she'd spend time with him and Caroline, Elena and him would throw witty words of hatred and annoyance at each other. They would usually end up at: 'you're such a jerk, I don't understand how anyone can tolerate you' or 'do you want to battle to the death, little girl, because I could take you.' Elena had come to appreciate their bantering over time. Everything was less 'I hate you' and more flirty and 'I like you.' Thank God for that or they'd both be punching holes through each other's stomachs out of boredom.

"If you tell anyone I'm nice to you, I might just have to kill you." Damon shrugged, downing the rest of his drink.

"You're tremendous at killing the mood, you do know that right?" Elena asked, raising her eyebrows at him, and all he returned was a nod and a smirk.

* * *

"" Elena asked, sitting on the couch with her feet propped up on the coffee table. Damon spotted the half empty bottle of wine and rolled his eyes.

"You, little one, have gotten yourself into the wine cabinet, haven't you?" He asked, taking away the glass she was drinking from. Elena pouted and rose to her feet.

"Damon, give it back!" She groaned, hopping on her tippy toes as he rose the glass over his head and out of her reach. "Fine, I'll go straight for the source then." She shrugged, quickly picking up the bottle and taking a swig.

"Elena, stop drinking." He set down the glass and moved closer to her.

"Why? You drink whisky faster than I could run. And that, by the way, is quite fast. Wanna race?" She asked in an excited slur, taking another swig.

"No, I don't want to race. You're such a strange drunk." He commented, grabbing her waist to attempt to get the wine. She "accidentally" stumbled into his chest and giggled. She looked up at him, and he had that 'what are you up to?' look on his face. Her lips were suddenly dry and she licked them hastily, leaning closer and closer to him. "Elena," He warned. "It's Saturday night, I'm not kissing you until Monday."

"I'm not kissing you, we're… snuggling. I never made a rule about snuggling."

"Fine, let's snuggle. Without alcohol in your hands." Damon said, snatching the wine and whisking away, leaving a pissed off Elena in the middle of the living room.

* * *

"When did my life get to being such a shit storm of shittiness?" She asked, sitting down on the fluffy white sheets the next afternoon. "Lie to me." She whispered. "Tell me that when I get home, everything's going to be okay."

"Fine." He said, combing a hand through her hair and pressing his lips to her dark brown roots. "Everything is going to be awful. We're all going to die at the age of thirty. You'll never make friends ever again. You'll never see the sun, or get to fall in love." He chuckled softly in her ear and she returned him a giggle. "Should I continue lying?" He asked. Instead of telling him to stop, she nodded with a genuine smile.

Damon leaned back against the headboard and took in a long breath. "You'll never see Jeremy or Jenna or any of your friends because they'll be avoiding you. You'll never get married and have a family. You'll never eat… popcorn or watch television. You'll never play in the grass, or go to the beach." Damon paused to listen to the beautiful chiming of her laughter. "You'll never sing terribly loud to your favorite song. You'll never watch another episode of Desperate Housewives because you hate that show and it's awful. You'll never bake cookies for some stupid bake sale that your kid's school is having. You'll never laugh so hard that you cry, or cry so hard that you wish you could remember what is was like to laugh."

"Why are you so optimistic?" She asked, looking down to play with her thumbs. "What happened to mean, dark Damon? He was so hot." She smirked and he laughed. He moved off the headboard and tackled her backwards, pinning her arms above her head.

"Really? Because mean Damon is just waiting to get out." He growled playfully, and she wrestled to get one hand free to touch his cheek.

"You're not mean. You never were. You just pretend to be so that it doesn't ruin your bad boy rep." She stated, tracing the pad of her thumb over his lips.

"That's unfair. I'm mean, and cruel." He shrugged biting her thumb and using his free hand to caress her cheek with the back of his hand. "And I… punch people." He smirked and listened to her cute laugh. "You have the most beautiful smile I have ever seen." He whispered, resting his forehead just below her neck, nuzzling his face into the soft fabric of her wool sweater. "You're so warm." He snuggled against her further and she tilted her head back, letting her mouth fall open. Her hair was splayed around her, and with Damon above her, she'd felt the most comfortable she had in weeks. Her large sweater reached just under her waist and her little black tights showed him exactly how tiny she really was.

Damon nuzzled further, his hands resting on her waist and hers tangling in his hair. He knew neither one of them would be making any moves. They would both honor their 'no kissing, no sex' agreement. They lay there for a while until Elena heard Damon stomach growl and she smiled, rolling him off of her and grabbing his hand to lead him downstairs.

"Feed me, woman." He said, hopping up on the countertop and watching as she moved quietly around the kitchen.

"Number thirty-two. I'm horrible at cooking." She explained, looking through the fridge for something to make.

"Grilled cheese." He requested. "It's simple to make."

"That it is." She agreed, taking bread out of the cupboard and cheese out of fridge and preparing them both what was now dinner. It continued to get later and later, and as Elena found herself lounging on Damon's lap in front of the large window overlooking the lake, she glanced at the small clock to their left. Damon didn't seem to notice anything; he was staring outside at the moon which reflected over the water to make the prettiest view. They sipped their wine and cuddled into each other's bodies comfortably.

"Number thirty-three. I love the moon." He whispered into her ear, allowing a chill to run down her spine.

"Number thirty-three. I love this. Just sitting here with you." She said, rubbing a hand soothingly over his chest.

"Number thirty-five." Damon whispered so quietly that if his lips weren't pressed to her ear she wouldn't have heard him. "I love you."

She smiled and took his glass away from him, setting them both on the table beside them. She twisted in his lap to straddle his waist. "Number thirty-five. It's twelve o'clock, the week is over." He stared at her for a second until their lips met in a bruising kiss. She kissed him with such passion that he thought he'd die, but he smiled against her lips and whispered "Slow."

Their pace slowed immediately and her hands were on his waist and chest and his were roaming all over her body. She wrapped her legs around his waist and he stood, making his way to the stairs. Their lips were fused together, their arms locked around each other. Elena barely ever came up for air, but when she did and they finally made it to her room, Damon kissed along her neck and collar bone. He kicked open the door, laying her gently on her bed and climbing on top of her with such grace. Elena laughed at Damon's trembling hands as he pulled her shirt over her head. It wasn't from being nervous; it was from waiting so long to do this. To kiss and touch her. This wasn't meaningless sex with a sorority girl, this was him and this was Elena.

He got an eyeful of her bra when he pressed open mouthed kissing along her chest, nibbling and sucking on the skin there. Black lace. Damon's two favorite words. He was anxious to take off her tights now, but she made him wait by pulling off his shirt agonizingly slowly. Slow. This was that they both wanted. It was meaningful now. They shared a connection on a deeper level; this wasn't sneaking behind Caroline's back anymore. This was falling in love. He almost died a little inside when he found out that she was wearing matching panties.

He didn't think Elena Gilbert could be more perfect than she already was, but as her hands slinked downwards to the button on his jeans, he found himself cursing God for making her this great. They'd waited, and it was more perfect than either of them imagined it would be. After so long, weeks and weeks of nothing, Damon finally found himself falling in love with her over and over again.

All his. She was all his.

The next morning, Elena stumbled out of bed as if she was high from her previous activities with the man lying beside her. She looked down at him and pursed her lips. Damon was a beautiful creature, but when he slept, he still sort of had that dangerous look to him. Like he could kill anyone he met with just a glare of those piercing blue eyes. She smiled and looked around the room, finding his button up and putting it on. She lay back down on the bed beside Damon, their noses almost touching. Damon instinctively wrapped his arms around her tiny body. In the process, his eyes wandered open and a small smile formed on his lips.

"Good morning beautiful." He whispered, nuzzling closer to her, tangling their limbs together.

"For a badass, you're quite the sweet talker." She giggled, kissing his nose. He smiled and she jumped on top on him, straddling him sweetly. She pressed her body against him and their lips connected softly. After a minute or so, she rolled out of bed. "I need to shower." She said, making her way to the bathroom.

"Is that an invitation?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.

"There's always room for more." She shrugged, running into the bathroom as he chased her. After their not very productive shower, they collapsed into bed together, Elena's hair whipping at his chest. The phone rang and Elena pried herself out of Damon's grasp.

"Hello?" She asked, sitting on the edge of the bed, Damon began to nibble and suck on her ear lobes, causing her to giggle quietly. She's never felt any of this when she was with Matt, Stefan or Tyler and she was positive he'd never felt like this with Caroline or any of his past conquests. Except maybe Katherine.

"Elena?" A male voice asked.

"Stefan?" Damon stopped immediately, pulling the phone in her hand in a direction so that they could both hear.

"There's been an accident. I think you should come home."

* * *

**yayyyyyy delena! finally they can have sex and kiss after being all cute for a couple chapters. **

**now theres gonna be a problem back home that they have to tend to...**

**please review and i'll love you alot!**


	15. Accidents Happen

**Summer has set in with its usual severity. **

**- Samuel Taylor Coleridge**

The 'Welcome to Mystic Falls' sign unnerved Elena enough, but when she finally reached the hospital, with Damon trailing behind her in his car, she was completely nervous. Then, the anger overtook her when she opened the doors to the hospital waiting room.

"What the fuck happened?" she asked furiously, taking into account the many familiar faces seated around a small coffee table. Caroline, who had a large gash on her left temple that was only bleeding a little, stood immediately.

"Elena, w-we were driving and the car spun out of control… and, and…" Caroline stumbled over her words cautiously and it was clear that she had been crying because her eyes were red and puffy.

"So it was your fault? God, that's fucking low Caroline!" Elena growled, her hand cracking across the blonde girl's face, which no one was expecting. Not even Caroline who burst into another crying fit and it was Damon who intervened, pulling Elena back from the other girl against Elena's struggles. Only a faint, 'I'm sorry' could be heard over Elena's angry threats and the buzz of nurses and doctors around them. She thrashed in Damon's grasp until Jenna stood as well.

"Elena, calm your ass down." She said sternly, over tears that she was choking back. Damon managed to push Elena down roughly so that she was seated in one of the waiting room chairs. He was crouching in front of her, between her legs, his hands placed firmly on her knees.

"Baby, it's not her fault, it was an accident." He assured her, pulling her chin in his direction so that her gaze was focused on him and him only. "It wasn't Caroline." He whispered, noticing that only one single tear had fallen down Elena's cheek. Jenna moved to sit in the seat beside Elena, talking in a hushed manner, and Damon moved to stand beside his younger brother who had just appeared in the room. Or maybe he was always there and Damon just didn't notice him. He looked around at the other people in the room. Jenna, who sat with Elena was trying to calm her niece. Bonnie, sitting a few empty seats away from Caroline with a nose of dried blood looking down at her feet nervously. Then there was Caroline who was clutching her cheek with one hand and crying into the other. Last was Alaric, who was sitting beside Caroline, awkwardly patting her shoulder. He gave his brother a sideways glance.

"What happened, Stefan?" He asked calmly, but Stefan could sense the bitterness and anger in his brother's voice. This was hurting Elena so it was hurting him as well.

"I don't exactly know. I was at the founder's pageant and next thing I know I'm getting a call saying my date's been in a car accident. They were on their way to you, Damon. On their way to the lake house." Stefan informed his brother cautiously, knowing this last part would anger him.

"How's Jeremy?" Damon asked tensely.

"Not good. He's in surgery now. Sheriff Forbes in on the way though, whoever was in the SUV they crashed into was gone when the ambulance got there."

This surprised Damon. He looked back around the room again, noticing the uncomfortably jealous vibes Damon was getting from Caroline. She'd been watching them interact, him and Elena, and he figured that bothered her very much. They were on their way to the lake house; meaning Caroline was on her way to sabotage Elena's relationship with him. This was no good. He and Caroline would talk later.

Damon sat back down beside Elena, holding her hand and allowing her to lean on his shoulder tiredly. He was whispering things to her which no one could decipher except Elena, who was shaking her head against him mostly in disapproval. The only one slightly relieved to see Elena here was Jenna, and even she was being a tad bit distant, always cowering around Alaric.

When the doctor finally came out, he first approached Elena and Jenna.

"Um, there's been some internal bleeding." He started. "Jeremy was affected more than the other passengers due to the angle in which he hit the car. More impact causing more damage. There are some fried brain cells which will most likely not heal, but right now he's in a coma. He will come to, that's a positive, but when is unknown." He finished. Elena sighed, relieved that Jeremy was going to wake up; she leaned slightly against the body behind her, which she felt as soon as the doctor left.

"He's gonna wake up." Damon whispered in her ear, and she never thought something so simple could sound so rough, yet comforting at the same time. She breathed heavily, and by then, the information had passed along the row of people, and she let Jenna and Alaric go into Jeremy's hospital room first due to the two people limit in the busy hospital. Elena told everyone that she'd rather see him last, when everyone leaves, so she watched as Bonnie filed in by herself, and Stefan with Caroline who was apprehensive about the entire thing. After talking to Damon, Alaric left with Jenna, who only put an arm on Elena's shoulder and told her not to stay out too long. The Sherriff arrived while Stefan and Caroline where inside, so Elena mingled with the upset parent. As soon as the blonde girl did come out she ran into her mother's arms and said she'd get statements and everything later, after Caroline was home and safe. Bonnie looked almost as upset as Elena, and she knew that Bonnie and Jeremy were very close to each other, so when the dark skinned girl neared Elena, she wrapped her arms around her small figure.

"I'm so sorry, we shouldn't have gone with Caroline." Bonnie whispered, tears running down her cheek, but Elena shook her head.

"Go home." She whispered back to her. Bonnie left unwillingly, and then it was just Stefan, Damon and Elena. Stefan looked down at his ex-girlfriend warily.

She nodded before he could speak, and the brothers exchanged some silent understanding and Stefan left for home.

"I can wait out here if you want to go in alone." He offered, expecting Elena to take it, but she didn't. She held his hand and they walked down the long hallway to room 308. She pushed open the door and it creaked open. She wasn't expecting the feeling she got when she looked at her still brother, his breaths unnaturally slow. She breathed heavily, and Damon went to sit on the bedside chair, pulling her into his lap so she could sit with her brother. Damon was quiet the entire time. She could feel his even breathing on her shoulder and she thanked God he wasn't apologizing continuously like any average person would. He sometimes kissed her shoulder in a very sweet, not sexual way. Just a comforting kiss.

"Jeremy," Her voice cracked slightly and she laced one hand through her brother's and one hand through Damon's. She began talking in unsteady, uneasy tones which made Damon's heart break. He listened though, not to her words but to her voice. "I am so sorry I left you. They say people in a coma can still hear voices," She stopped to remove her hand from Jeremy's and brushed his hair back from his extremely pale face. She noticed all the scars now which made her stomach flip.

After she'd finished talking to him, she stood off of Damon's lap, and she kissed her brother's cheek. It was colder than usual. Damon kissed her hair, and she slowly receded from the room.

"Can I drop you off at home? I can come back and get your car but I don't want you driving." Damon said softly as they stepped out of the hospital. The sky showed signs of evening, telling them that they'd been there for an obscene amount of time.

"Can you come home with me?" She asked, and Damon pursed his lips, but nodded.

* * *

When they got home, Jenna was already asleep, making Damon and Elena tip toe quietly upstairs. Her bedroom was just the way she left it a month ago. She had told everyone she wouldn't be back until summer's end, but there was no way she could not come back for Jeremy. Elena kicked off her jeans and removed her bra through her shirt when they finally reached her room. Damon just removed his belt buckle and shirt and he climbed into bed beside her. Damon didn't want sex, and he knew neither did Elena.

She curled her back into him and he wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her hair and relaxing against the touch. She found peace she wouldn't normally find after something like this happened and she couldn't help but kiss the side of Damon's wrist as if it was a thank you. He was her rock, and she was just realizing how helpful Damon really is when he cares about something enough.

As if the day wasn't bad enough, Mother Nature decided to throw in a thunder storm which woke Elena up immediately. She could hear the even breathing in Damon's sleep but as soon as she whimpered from the loud blasts of sound, he awoke. She stirred in his arms, and he placed his lips next to her ear.

"Don't listen to it." He whispered, noticing how the thunder frightened her. "Listen to me." He told her, kissing behind her ear, and she could tell he was sleepy and would have otherwise fallen back to sleep and not cared about the thunder. But she did, so he did as well. "Just fall back asleep and we can go visit Jeremy in the morning." She could tell his eyes were close, and her lids were heavy too. "Don't listen to it, listen to my heart beating."

She pressed her ear against his chest to hear the steady rhythm of his heart and noticed how comforting it actually was. It was slow, due to his tiredness, and somehow, she could feel her heartbeat slowing to match his.

"I love you." He whispered, before listening to her fall back asleep, and joining her.

* * *

The next morning was quieter than usual. Elena figured it was because Jeremy wasn't here to call every wrong move Jenna made. Damon had offered to leave out the window, but Jenna probably wouldn't mind him being here at a time like this. The two got dressed and took their time to walk downstairs into the kitchen. Damon began to fend for himself, because that's what he always does in her house anyway, grabbing two bowls of cereal. Jenna was already there, sitting at the kitchen table, picking slowly at the toast on her plate.

"I'm gonna go back to the hospital," Elena declared, finishing off her cereal "bring Jer some music." She looked to Damon, who was fiddling with his spoon. "You should go home, I'll call you."

"Yeah, I'm gonna go check on Stefan." Damon said, finishing off his cereal along with Elena. He nodded towards Jenna, who liked like she'd been hit by a car, and Elena walked him to the door.

"I'm sorry we couldn't… last night." Elena began quietly incase Jenna heard.

Damon looked slightly offended. "Elena I wouldn't have wanted to. You know that. I have a few things to do, but how about I meet you at the hospital later." He suggested, and she nodded hastily. He pressed a sweet kiss to her lips, but she had already wrapped her arms around his waist to pull him closer. She deepened the kiss more, leaning against his hard body. He was the one who pulled away and pressed his lips to her forehead before disappearing out the door.

* * *

Damon knocked on the door of the Forbes house and the answer was quick. Liz was wearing all her police gear and it seemed as though she was just about to leave the house.

"Hey, Damon."

"Sherriff. Um, I just wanted to see if there were any developments in the case. The Jeremy Gilbert case." Damon knew Caroline's mother trusted him since he'd joined the council Carol Lockwood was always bugging him about. He'd helped in previous cases and the Sherriff had grown to have respect for the elder Salvatore.

Liz shook her head lightly. "The car was registered to a Klaus Ore, but he's not in the system. We don't have much more. Sorry Damon. If you want you can come with me, I was just on my way to Bonnie's house to get her statement."

"Uh, she doesn't like me much. I actually wanted to talk to Caroline, if that's okay."

Liz nodded reluctantly, opening the door wider for him to pass. "She's in her room, go on up."

Caroline sat on her bed, filing through photographs she'd developed a while back. They were mostly of her, Elena and Bonnie, but in some were Stefan and Tyler and Matt. And Damon. The door creaked open and the moment she saw his blue eyes she shuddered.

"Can we talk?" He asked, opening the door wider. Caroline nodded setting the photos down and crossing her legs for Damon to join her on the bed. She couldn't help but shiver. He had that look in his eyes that told her there was something he needed to get out. She shifted nervously when he closed the door and joined her by sitting at the edge of her bed. Damon looked down at the photos she was looking at. The top picture was of Caroline and Damon hugging, with Elena in the background waving. He looked back up at Caroline.

"Digging through the past?" He asked, and Caroline nodded.

"What's up, Damon? Get it out." She said, raising her eyebrows at him. He sighed and started up.

"Look Care, I'm sorry, about what we did to you. How we made you feel. Elena hates herself for what happened, and I hate what happened too. But…"

"But you're in love with her." Caroline stated. "There's always been something that caught your eye with Elena Gilbert. Even when she was with Stefan. I saw the envy in your eyes."

"I'm with Elena now. I don't know exactly what that means, relationship wise, but yeah, I love her."

Caroline sucked in a breath and avoided eye contact. "That hurt more than I thought it would." She whispered.

"I'm sorry, Care. And I know that's not what you ever wanted to hear, but it's the truth. I just… wanted to know why you were on your way to the lake house when you got into the accident."

"I wanted you back Damon. She took you from me and I wanted to get you back. But now, watching you two, I know you're never coming back to me." She shrugged, flipping the picture of them embracing white side up. Damon watched her movements.

"What we had Caroline, was good. I liked you, a lot."

"And I loved you." She admitted. "But I know what you're saying Damon. You don't want me anymore. And I guess that's closure. As much as it sucks, trying to hurt Elena would hurt you, and that's not what I intended." She paused to think. "What happened with Jeremy, it was an accident, but it was my accident. I shouldn't have dragged them into my scheming, it only hurt them. I'm sorry about _everything_, can you tell her that? Elena?" Caroline asked, but Damon shook his head.

"I think you should tell her that yourself." He said, before standing up and exiting the house.

* * *

When Damon got to the hospital, he found Elena sitting in sweatpants and a hoodie in the corner of the room and in the chair beside Jeremy's pale body was Jenna, who was clad in jeans and a t-shirt. Music was playing, and Elena looked as if she wanted to kill herself because of it. It was hard rock, he assumed Jeremy's favorite type of music.

Damon noticed the way Elena and Jenna's eyes lit up when they realized he had coffee in his hand. It wasn't bad hospital coffee that the two had been drinking since the morning, but good Starbucks coffee. Jenna stood as he gave her one, and Damon made his way to Elena's seat to hand her one. Taking one for himself, he sat on the arm of her chair and looked over to Jeremy.

"Thank you." Elena whispered, followed by Jenna, and Damon rubbed her leg sympathetically.

"Always." He whispered back. The nurse came in a second later, and she checked the computer screen sitting by Jeremy's bed.

"So, nothing's abnormal with him, everything is stable. We are still doing some testing, to see if we can get anymore info on when he'll wake up. So far nothing's conclusive. But I think if you keep talking to him, or playing him music, eventually he'll get sick of it and wake up." The nurse joked, but no one exactly laughed. "That was supposed to be funny." She said, taking in a large breath. Elena gave her a sincere smile and the nurse exited the room.

The door creaked open again and Alaric slipped in, closing it behind him. Jenna looked up, receiving a kiss on the cheek from him and turned back to her nephew. Alaric looked over to Damon giving his good friend a nod before offering Elena a smile. Damon stood, placing his hand gently on Elena's shoulder.

"Ric, want to walk to the cafeteria with me?" Damon asked, raising his eyebrows. Alaric nodded and he looked down at the two girls. "Anyone hungry?" Elena turned her entire face up to look at him.

"Can you get me a cookie?" she asked innocently, and Damon smiled slightly, pressing his lips to hers.

"Sure." Damon said, kissing her once more before touching her hair and retreating.

"Thanks, babe." They watched the boys go and Elena turned to Jenna, who was smirking with her eyebrows raised.

"Thanks, babe." Her aunt mocked, and Elena rolled her eyes and changed the song on the CD player.

* * *

"You know, I always knew there was something up with you and Elena." Alaric smirked as they made their way to the elevator. Alaric reached over his friend to press the Ground button.

"Dude, you're banging Elena's aunt?" Damon asked looking at the history teacher.

"Well, you're banging her, why can't I bang her aunt?"

* * *

**freaaaaking hell; i'm so proud of that chapter. it was the longest i've ever written and i think it was the most emotional, but flightly fluffy thing i've ever written. tell me what you think about the DE relationship. they're very cute and cuddly but things are about to get very serious and heated between the two and it's gonna frustrate the hell out of them both and everyone around them. i also liked Caroline's character development in this chapter. it provided Damon and Caroline some closure and i think at the end of the day, they both feel really good about what they had, but it's over now. okay okay okay, there will be more Stefan and more Alaric in the next chapter; more team badass, along with some case developments from sherriff forbes. pleeeeease review, i'd appreciate a whoooole lot because i'm really getting back into this story after some filler chapters. my updates will probably be more frequent until around the end of may beginning of june due to a really busy school schedule. i plan for this to be quite a few more chapters, and when it's done, i dont plan on making a companion series, but i think i'm going to try a different writing style because i've read a few stories and i really love the author's style. stay tuned and review pretty please!**

**love, cee.**


	16. Rekindling

"Jeremy! You're killing me man!" Damon called to the unresponsive body. Elena giggled, which she hadn't done in a couple days. Every time Elena and Damon would visit Jeremy, they somehow end up kissing, and when one thing leads to another, they realize that Elena's little brother is in the room with them. So Damon had Elena on his lap, his want for increasing rapidly. Her legs straddled him as much as possible on the leather chair and her hands were at the nape of his neck. Her lips were all over his face and his neck, and Damon couldn't help but feel like he was being watched by the coma patient.

"Eleeeeeeena." He warned, as soon as her hands moved from his neck to a southern direction. She didn't stop until he grabbed both her wrists with one of his hands. Despite the growling coming from the brunette, Damon nudged her off of him and slowly, she drew back, fixing her messy hair.

He and Elena barely ever had alone time now, and frankly the two of them were getting antsy. Between Jenna always being home and Stefan at the boardinghouse, it seemed they had no quiet place to be alone in. And Damon was not about to have sex with her in a hospital. So they hadn't since they got back from the lake house. Damon had a good feeling that they wouldn't be returning to the Gilbert Lake house and as sad as it was, he'd rather be where Elena needed to be.

"Well," Elena started "If we can't make out, than I say we make bets on when my brother's gonna wake the hell up." She suggested, and Damon had noticed how much lighter the subject of Jeremy was for her now. After a couple of days of listening to bad rock music, I think everyone had come to accept that Jeremy wasn't with them right now, but they still had their own lives to deal with. "I guesstimate…" Elena speculated for a second. "Another month and a half."

"Nah, Jeremy isn't very patient," Damon stated "I'm thinking just a month."

Elena shrugged and marked down the current date on the white board across the room from Jeremy's bed. "If I guess closer, than I get… unlimited sex. When I want it and where I want it. I call you and you better get your ass over to my house before I don't want it anymore. For two weeks."

"Okay, so basically I'll be your bitch for half a month." Damon restated in simpler terms. He watched the pretty girl nod and take a seat next to Jeremy's feet. "Fine. But when I win-"

"If." Elena corrected.

"Nope. _When_ I win, you move into the boarding house with me." Elena's mouth fell open to show that she was thinking about this. Living with Damon would be a huge step forward in their relationship. "And you'll be eighteen between now and then so you won't need Jenna's consent or anything."

"…Sure. Why not?" Elena smiled, giving Jeremy a pat on the leg. She could almost see the constant flitting of her brother's eyes underneath his eye lids. "What do you think he's dreaming about?" She asked quietly.

Damon was quiet as well, and when he finally spoke up, Elena turned to look at him. "Maybe he isn't dreaming." He replied, his tone as soft as hers. "Maybe he's just stuck in Limbo and can't find his way out."

It was hard for Elena to think about where Jeremy's mind was at. If Damon was right, and he was in some kind of Limbo, then Jeremy was in nowhere, seeing nothing in a place of loss and neglect. But she could only imagine what he could see if he was dreaming. The place he was in or the mind state he was working through. She'd watched that episode of _Bones_ and the episode of _One Tree Hill_ where the character in a coma was in some alternate reality where everything was mixed around. They were either with the wrong person, or in love with the right one. Maybe that was what was going on in Jeremy's mind.

"Come on." Elena said, prodding Damon out of his seat, "Jeremy's probably annoyed that we keep kissing in his room."

"Stefan?" Damon called out as soon as he and Elena had stepped into the house. There was no reply, which meant Stefan wasn't home. Elena smiled at their first moment of complete privacy. Maybe Elena thought too soon because a female figure appeared from the Study.

"Oh." Damon stopped, looking down at Elena, whose eyes were fixed on the girl in front of her.

"Stefan let me in." Caroline declared, looking over to Elena. "I was wondering if we could maybe talk." She asked.

Elena averted her gaze. "I don't have anything to say to you." She replied in her bitter tone. Damon looked between the two girls quietly.

"Then maybe you could just listen." Caroline bit back any sarcasm or rude comments.

Reluctantly, Elena moved into the study, past Caroline. "I'm all ears." She said, pouring herself a glass of Damon's scotch and taking a seat on the couch. Damon just pointed to upstairs and mumbled something about getting something. As soon as he was out of hearing range, Caroline took a seat across from Elena and began speaking.

"I'm in love with Damon." She stated. As soon as Elena was about to interrupt, she scolded the brunette. "Listen." She commanded, and Elena took another sip of the alcohol. "I was upset about what you and Damon had. What you still have. You have him on this entirely different emotional scale that I could never access. You can understand why I was so fucking jealous. And pissed. I had this whole, stupid plan about how to break you guys up. I'd come up to the lake house and humiliate you, then seduce Damon into coming home with me. Jeremy and Bonnie didn't know the exact specifications of my plan; they just thought I was going to attempt to woo Damon." Caroline explained. "I shouldn't have used their pity to my advantage. You probably don't understand what it's like to want what you can't have. You're Elena fucking Gilbert, you get everything you want. Matt, Stefan, Damon. I wanted them, but they wanted you. And it get that, you're gorgeous and smart and just an amazing person all around." Caroline stopped to produce the smallest of hopeful smiles. "You did some hurtful things and I said some hurtful shit. I know that you feel bad about what happened, Damon told me."

The first thing that came to Elena's mind was, _when the fuck did Damon confront Caroline?_ He'd never told her about speaking to her.

"Maybe one day, you'll obtain a flaw, Elena. God rest your soul because if we don't have flaws we aren't human." Caroline rambled and Elena looked at her ex-best friend. "I shouldn't have dragged your brother or Bonnie down with me. We were half way to your lake house when Jeremy looked back at me for a split second and we collided with the SUV. It came out of freaking nowhere, Elena, believe me. I… That scene replays every time I shut my eyes for even a split second. I watch it behind my eye lids every night before I fall asleep. I'm sorry for what happened with Jeremy. It's my fault, I was stupid and I guess my karma bit him in the ass by accident." Elena sucked in a deep breath. "I just hoped that maybe we could try and re-patch ourselves. We had a good friendship. I just want you to know how sorry I am and I know that may not do it for you, but it's all I can think of saying. I just wish that we can try and be friends again."

The room was quiet for a few long seconds. "This is the part where you say something." Caroline reminded.

"I shouldn't have hit you, the other day. I shouldn't have hit you." Elena whispered, but Caroline shook her head.

"It's okay." The blonde whispered back.

"Damon was right. I feel so bad about what happened between us, but it will take time to get back what we had."

"We can try." Caroline agreed, and the two girls stood. Caroline immediately ran into Elena's arms, and the brunette made an actual effort to embrace her back. It was obvious that Caroline was teary about the subject.

"Does this mean sleepovers and pillow fights in our underwear?" Damon asked from the bottom of the steps. Caroline giggled quietly, Elena joining in, but chucking a pillow at the raven-haired man.

Elena stepped into the grill from the dark cold of Mystic Falls. She'd just come from another visit to the hospital with Jeremy, who was still unaware of any surroundings. She was meeting Bonnie, because Damon said he had to talk to Stefan about some things. Elena, also unaware of her surroundings, collided with another body and stumbled backwards.

"I'm so sorry." She apologized, looking up momentarily. "Tyler."

"Elena." Tyler was just as surprised as Elena was. "I heard you were back in town. Hey, I'm sorry about Jeremy." He said quickly, this was not as awkward as she thought it would be.

"Uh, thanks." Elena smiled lightly, looking over at where Bonnie was gaping at them. "Look, Bonnie's waiting for me, but I was thinking maybe we could go out to talk sometime? Maybe early next week when things settle down a bit?" she asked, and it seemed as if Tyler forced a smile.

"Yeah, I guess you could call me whenever you're free." He said, placing a hand on her shoulder and giving her one last smile before he left. Elena turned and headed to the small corner table at the back of the grill where Bonnie sat impatiently.

"Why were you just talking to Tyler Lockwood?" She asked as soon as Elena sat down. Elena rolled her eyes.

"Relax, Bon, we were just catching up." She stated, watching as an extremely hot waiter approached their table. His eyes were glued on Elena and she offered a short smile.

"Uh," He cleared his throat and Bonnie had an amused look on her face. "Can I get you girls anything to drink?"

"Coke, please." Bonnie answered and he turned his attention back to Elena, who felt as if maybe her neckline was kind of low, expectantly.

"Could I have a glass of red wine?" She requested, pulling her seductive card that allowed her to get almost anyone's attention. She smirked mysteriously, and the waiter with dusty blonde hair and dark brown eyes caught his breath.

"Uh, sure." He said, smiling and walking away.

"No ID?" Bonnie raised her eyebrows at Elena.

"If he asked, I had a fake one at the ready," Elena shrugged. "And anyway, I'm really in need of a good glass of wine."

The two chatted until they were finished their dinner, and they split the bill, Elena standing up to put on her jacket. She hugged her best friend who turned and left while she continued to ready herself for the cold. Elena watched as the waiter approached her looking extremely nervous.

"Hey, so I was wondering if maybe you wanted to hook up later. My shift ends in an hour, maybe I could get your number and call you afterwards." He said, raising an eyebrow in questioning. Elena immediately felt arms wrap around her waist and she smiled.

"Sorry, man, she's not interested." She felt his hot breath on her ear and she looking up at him, then back to the waiter, who nodded and turned on his heel, immediately running to the back. She turned in his arms and he placed a soft kiss on her lips. "Hi." He smiled when he drew back.

"Hi." She said, and he laced his fingers through hers and walked her to the bar. "I thought you were with Stefan?" She asked, after the bartender poured Damon a glass of whisky.

"I was. It didn't take as long as I thought it would, and you'd mentioned you were coming to the Grill, so I thought I'd swing by." He explained, taking a sip and placing the glass down.

"Are you coming over tonight?" She asked, crossing her jean clad legs.

"Can't. I'm going to Ric's. He's in a shit mood and you know how he is when he's grumpy." Damon shrugged and Elena smiled.

"Okay, well, if you change your mind…" She started.

"I'll be in your bed before you can blink." He smiled, watching as she got up and pressed a kiss to his cheek before turning and leaving the Grill.

"Well, Jenna. It looks like our boyfriends are on a date, so do you want to maybe watch a movie or something tonight?" Elena asked her aunt as soon as she stepped in the kitchen.

"I was actually heading to the hospital. You're welcome to come along if you want." She said, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge.

"Uh, maybe we can hang out when you get back? I already went to see Jer this afternoon and I'm not really in the mood to go out."

Jenna nodded and gave her a "Sure."

"Is she good?" Alaric asked expectantly, and Damon almost coughed up his bourbon.

"You're her history teacher, Ric, don't you think that's creepy?" Damon asked, turning to look at his best friend.

"Damon, you and I are the same age, I'll just pretend I don't see her at fourth period every day this semester." Alaric answered and Damon rolled his eyes and took another drink. He noticed the other man still looking at him and he nodded.

"Yes, she's good in bed." Damon replied.

"That's it?" Alaric asked, and Damon shrugged.

"What do you want me to say, Ric? That she does this little arch thing with her hips when she wants more, or when she sighs when she's happy. And when she's frustrated she pouts until I finally give in." Damon was in his own little world and when he finally came to, Alaric was staring at him with utter curiosity.

"You fell hard." He said, and Damon gave a short nod, continuing to nurse his drink.

Gone With The Wind. Caroline brought the movie over every fourth week so she and Elena and whoever else was in the household could watch it. Jenna put in the VHS edition of the movie and hopped on the couch next to her niece.

Elena's eyes lidded heavily and her heart beat slower. She finally fell asleep on the arm of the comfy leather couch.

Elena awoke in the darkness of her bedroom, the shades were drawn and a streak of moonlight shone through her room. She squinted her eyes open slowly; able to see the thick lashes that framed her eyes. She rolled over, brushing her hair behind her. The figure in her bed shuffled to accommodate her, and she felt strong arms grip around her waist, and soft lips kissed behind her ear. She hadn't even noticed he was here until he touched her. He must have come over late and found her asleep on the couch so he brought her to bed. Jenna probably went to bed before he came, or else she would have heavily monitored his coming and going. "You came," She whispered, turning to give him a kiss on his perfectly shaped lips. "Hi."

"Hi, baby." He whispered, returning the kiss lightly. She turned to face him, struggling to move in his arms, and smiled up at him. The streak of moonlight hit his face perfectly, showing a certain gleam in his eyes. She kissed him again, this time more forcefully, and he rolled her on top of him so that she straddled his waist. She giggled lightly and bent down to press her lips to his once more. "Aren't you tired?" Damon whispered, running his hands up and down her sides.

She shook her head and cupped his face in her hands pressing forward to kiss him once more. He groaned into the kiss, and when her hands finally finished unbuttoning his shirt, he sat up, allowing her legs to snake around his body while he shrugged out of his sleeves. They never broke away from the kiss, Elena's arms wrapping around his neck while his hands sneaked under the hem of her shirt.

"Jenna's in the other room." Damon stated, his hands stopping at the clasp of her bra.

"Then we have to be really really quiet." She whispered in his ear.


	17. Happy Birthday

**What is one to say about June, the time of perfect young summer, the fulfillment of the promise of the earlier months, and with as yet no sign to remind one that its fresh young beauty will ever fade. **

**- Gertrude Jekyll**

Damon stepped into the florescent lights of Mystic Falls P.D the next morning. Sheriff Forbes had called him and asked him if he could swing by and talk about the case. As soon as he entered the building, Liz was standing at the front desk. She greeted him, then took him to her office where they could sit down and talk.

"Look Damon, I'm not supposed to be talking about any cases with anyone not on the police force. I'll only bend the rules because you are on the council, and you've helped with previous cases." Liz started, and Damon knew this was because it was Elena's brother. Damon nodded silently and urged Liz to continue. "We wouldn't normally be so caught up in a car accident, but the fact that whoever was in the car disappeared, we decided to investigate."

"I though you said you knew who's car it was." Damon stated, ruffling his hair slightly.

"I know who's car it is, but that doesn't mean they were driving. There were tire tracks all over the road, it was drunk driving. There were beer bottles and joints scattered everywhere in the vehicle. Since it's such a small town, and nothing really happens, we're looking for him. Klaus." Liz informed him. "We've sifted through birth certificates and hospitals and insurance and properties, and so far nothing. There are a few more files to go through, and we're hoping we can find a connection. If not, the case is a dead end and we're giving up."

"Liz, an innocent kid is in a coma. We don't know when he's going to wake up." Damon argued, but she placed her hands on the desk in front of her.

"That's why we're going to find him." She finished, nodding her head towards the door. Damon stood, giving a sigh and leaving the department.

* * *

Elena searched through box upon box of old things that used to belong to her parents. Alaric appeared in the kitchen then, and she looked up and nodded at him.

"Watcha doing?" He asked, as soon as her head fell back to the boxes. He sat down at the table with a glass of water and watched her.

"I am looking through my parent's old stuff. I'm feeling all sentimental." She explained, watching as Aunt Jenna walked into the room as well. They'd just gotten home for God knows what, and weirdly enough, Elena didn't find it awkward for her history teacher to be dating her legal guardian.

"I hate those days." Her aunt commented and then smiled at the girl. "It takes so long to put everything away."

"You're just lazy, Jenna." Elena smiled back, setting the box back on the table and standing up. "I think I'm going to go see Jer." Elena said, removing her sweater and placing it on the back of the chair. The couple nodded and watched her leave the room silently.

The hospital was extremely busy today. Apparently everyone liked to hurt themselves on Fridays. She made her way to the elevator, holding the door for the cutest of old lady's with a little walker. She smiled and pressed her floor number, asking which floor the woman needed and pressing it as well. When she finally got to Jeremy's room, Bonnie was there. The small, dark skinned girl stood at the foot of his bed, pursing her lips at his still figure.

"The doctor said to always speak to him. Coma patients usually hear what's going on." Elena suggested, raising her sunglasses to the top of her head and smiling at her friend.

"I don't know what to say to him. I've said sorry God knows how many times. There's really nothing else to say."

"That you love him?" Elena asked, sitting down in the chair beside Jeremy. The room was made to completely accommodate her, Jenna, Ric and Damon. Their belongings were scattered all over the room. Elena's jacket hung on the back of the chair. A few of Jenna's things were stashed beside the bed. A couple folders of homework Alaric had yet to grade sat on the desk. And of course, Damon's leather jacket sat peacefully on the large window sill.

"I thought I did. But after watching you and Damon, I don't think I know what love is anymore." Bonnie said, and Elena turned to look at her, shaking her head continuously.

"Bonnie, love is different for all of us. It doesn't matter what Damon does or says or how much he contradicts me, he tells me he loves me every night before we fall asleep. He knows I'm not there yet, I'm almost seventeen, I still have a lot of growing to do. But, whatever you feel for Jeremy, is you. It has nothing to do with what I feel." Elena told her. Bonnie knew she was right. She was stupid to think that all love was the same.

"I think I do." She said. "Love him. But I'd rather him respond to me when I tell him." She turned for the door and looked back at Elena. "Thank you." She smiled, before leaving.

"I'm sure you heard that Jer. It's not your fault, she's just not ready." Elena explained to her brother. She kicked her feet up so that she was sideways on the small chair, her legs and head dangling over the sides of the chair. "So, I was looking through pictures and stuff today, and I've got to say, you had some pretty bad ass 90's hair." She commented.

Elena talked to Jeremy for hours before she realized the sun setting in the sky, a sign that it was getting later than she thought. She felt a weird absence. Damon had been by her side for so long now that she didn't remember what it was like to be alone for a while. She thought she'd take advantage of the opportunity to really think about things. To think about Jeremy and Caroline and Bonnie. To think about Damon and Jenna and Tyler. Tyler. She was free, she might as well give him a call and set something up for tonight.

Luckily, Tyler didn't have any plans either, so he picked her up at eight to take her out to dinner. Her phone rang as she was getting ready and she picked it up without looking at the ID.

"Hello?"

"Hey, babe. What are you up to?" Damon asked. How would she explain this to him?

"Nothing, just getting ready for dinner… with Caroline." Elena finished. She knew Damon would not be fond of her going out with Tyler Lockwood so she agreed to keep it on the down low.

"Nothing like mending broken relationships on a Friday night. I'd rather not be there to see it." Damon commented and Elena rolled her eyes.

"You're the one who broke the relationship, that's a good reason why." She added.

"Yeah, yeah. Just call me when you get home." He said, before hanging up.

* * *

The dark restaurant made Tyler's blue eyes stand out even more than usual. She smiled as he stood to greet her at the table. A second later, he was pulling out her chair, then climbing into his own. The waiter came and went a couple times, and when a plate of ravioli was finally placed in front of Elena, Tyler looked up at her expectantly.

"You have every reason in the world to hate me." She started, twirling her fork on her plate. "I led you on when I was with Damon, and I shouldn't have done that. I should have broken it off, and for that, I'm deeply sorry. I genuinely liked you Tyler, and I knew we weren't official or anything, but we did date and that means something to me." She looked up to meet his icy stare. She had no idea why Tyler was wasting his time on her, but she was thankful he gave her a chance to explain everything.

"I'd liked to think we were a casual boyfriend and girlfriend deal." Tyler said, and Elena nodded as well. "I should have realized I wasn't who you dressed up for, or who you smiled about, or who you thought of." Tyler said, and Elena looked down awkwardly.

"But you were important to me." Elena stated.

"I know that." Tyler gave her a smile. "And I think it would be good to be friends again. Back to how it was before there was an 'us'." He suggested, and Elena nodded.

"I don't know how much Damon will like that, but I think it's a great idea." She smiled, and it looked like Tyler's entire facial expression changed for a split second.

"You make it sound like he owns you." Tyler flinched.

"No, I just mean he's very…" Why couldn't Elena form the phrase? He wasn't controlling or anything. "You know how he is." Elena said, at loss for words.

"I really don't." Tyler said. "Why don't you tell me about him, because I've met him a couple times and he seems like a total douche." He said, sort of angrily, she observed.

"He doesn't really like people." Elena started. How was she supposed to sum up Damon? "He's a lot like you. A pain in the ass and extremely stubborn, but when we're alone, sweet. I think you'd like him." She stopped then frowned. "Actually you'd probably hate him, you're personalities would sort of clash. Though he's a little meaner than you." She said, and Tyler looked up at her frowning.

"So you're like, legit together now?" He asked, and Elena nodded.

When they were both done, Tyler offered to drive her home, since she'd gotten dropped off by Jenna. He paid the check and opened her car door for her. This was something she wasn't used to, because Damon didn't go out of his way to be a gentleman. When they pulled up at Caroline's house, she smiled over at him.

"Thank you for tonight, Ty. I had fun." She gave a smile.

"Yeah. Me too." He said, leaning over to give her a kiss. She hadn't expected it. It wasn't a sweet kiss on the cheek, it was a hard and strong kiss on her lips. She pulled back after a couple seconds, and instead of saying anything that would make the situation awkward, she smiled again, opening the door. It was a goodbye kiss, she told herself. She saw the curtains shutter and walked up to the Forbes' house quickly.

"Hey." Elena smiled, she didn't know why she was excited just to hear his voice.

"Heeeeey, baby." Damon slurred, and Elena stopped smiling.

"Are you drunk?" She asked. She had just left Caroline's house, and now it was around 1:00 in the morning, and she just wanted to say goodnight to Damon and go to bed. She now had a feeling she'd have to save Damon from some kind of lonely drunken state.

"Uh, no. Okay maybe a little-lot bit." Damon said quickly and she rolled her eyes.

"Do I have to come and get you?" She asked, and she could hear a scratchy noise on the other line, then someone talking extremely loudly to Damon. "Is that Alaric?" She asked.

"Uh, yeah, I have to go, love." Damon laughed, and she knew he was probably laughing at something stupid Alaric was doing.

"Damon!" Her voice rang out, loud and annoyed in the phone.

"Come on, 'Lena, go to bed and come over in the morning." She sighed heavily through the phone. She didn't like this Damon getting drunk and her not being there to take care of him thing.

"Don't do anything stupid." She warned, and she could practically hear his eyes roll.

"Okay mom," He mocked and when he heard a growl he offered a laugh. "Love you babe."

"Goodnight, Damon." She fell back in the bed, tossing her phone on the bed side table. Thoughts of Damon filled her head, then her mind wandered off to Tyler, lingering on their kiss. It shouldn't have. She didn't want Tyler, she wanted Damon, that was obvious to anyone who had eyes. But their was something about the way Tyler had kissed her that felt unfamiliar. He's never kissed her like that before. Like he poured everything into it. She sighed and repositioned herself in her bed, it would take her a while to fall asleep now.

* * *

The next morning, Elena's ears tuned into the consistent banging on the door. It felt late, Jenna probably went out to see Jeremy. She rolled out of bed slowly. She was guessing it was Damon, just having woke up on someone's lawn and stumbling to her bed. She made her way downstairs slowly, rubbing her eyes. When she finally opened the door, Damon wasn't standing in front of her. Caroline and Bonnie stood on her doorstep, carrying boxes covered in wrapping paper and large bows.

"Elena!" They yelled in unison. And Elena jumped a little. "Happy Birthday!" They finished, and she gave a laugh.

"It's my birthday?" Elena asked. And Caroline and Bonnie pushed her inside the house, sighing. Running upstairs, Caroline found her hand and dragged her along with them. They settled on her bed and Elena combed a hand through her hair.

"Okay, so, my gift first." Bonnie urged, pushing her gift towards her best friend. "You're going to love it." She smiled widely. Elena hesitantly unwrapped the box, then pulled off the lid to look inside. It was a diary. A rustic looking book covered in brown leather. Her name was engraved on a metal plate on the front. She admired it, opening the diary to fly through the pages.

"Oh, Bonnie. It's amazing." Elena hugged the dark skinned girl and smiled down at the book. "Thankyou."

"Okay, me now." Caroline cut in, handing Elena the box. "It's more of a gift for you and Damon, but a gift none the less." Caroline gave a smirk and Elena lifted one perfectly sculpted eye brow and opened the box.

She squealed as soon as she saw what was inside. "Caroline!" She scolded, covering her eyes with an embarrassed smile. Both Caroline and Bonnie laughed at her and Elena rolled her eyes. Elena slowly pulled the undergarments out of the box. It was all leather. Leather panties, a leather bra and high black socks that clipped onto the edge of the underwear.

"You know how Damon loves his leather." Caroline said, and Bonnie pretended to puke. Elena threw the gift back and its box.

"Thank you, Caroline." She said in an annoyed, yet amused manner and hugged her best friend. "Okay, so what are we doing today?" Elena asked, looking to both of the girls sitting on her bed.

"We are going shopping for a hot dress for your party tonight." Bonnie said, standing and going through Elena's wardrobe for jeans and a t-shirt. She threw the clothes at Elena.

"Guys, you know I don't like big events." She warned.

"Relax," Caroline started. "It's just a small gathering at the grill."

* * *

"Caroline, this is not a small gathering." Elena stated when they walked through piles of people at the Grill. The girls had chosen a silky purple cocktail dress for Elena to wear. Her little black high heeled boots clanked on the floor as she walked.

"Shut up and enjoy it." Caroline whispered to her as they made their way to a table. Jenna was already sitting, and she smiled when Elena approached them.

"Happy birthday, kid." She laughed, patting her on the back. The Grill was bursting with life. The music played loudly, the majority of the people were dancing. She was actually enjoying herself, watching the people file in and out, most of them stopping to wish her a happy birthday. Her eyes fluttered up at the sound of the door opening. She was leaning over the bar, talking to the bartender, an old friend from school, when she saw him. His hair was tousled, slightly wet from a recent shower, and his eyes were extremely blue against the dark bags underneath them. Alaric followed him in, looking much the same. Elena turned back to her old friend and smiled. The girl wished her a happy birthday, and when Elena felt arms wrap around her waist she smiled. The bartender walked away to tend to a couple people.

"Happy birthday, beautiful." He kissed her neck once then turned her around in his arms.

"Thank you." She pressed a sweet kiss to his lips and smiled.

"Happy Birthday, 'Lena." Ric gave a wave as he walked by them to Jenna. She offered him a 'thank you' then looked back at Damon.

"Where have you been all day?" She asked, her hands rubbing the back of his neck comfortably.

"Hung over. Yeah, I'm sorry about that, we just got a little out of control. But, I'm here now, so let's celebrate." He smiled, letting go of her so he could take her hand. "Ugh, what's Tyler Lockwood doing here?" He asked and Elena shuddered mentally.

"He's here because my party committee invited him. So be nice and say hello." Elena urged just before Tyler walked up to them.

"Elena! Happy birthday." He smiled, not touching her due to Damon's closeness. "Hello, Damon." Tyler nodded.

"Tyler." Damon nodded back, and the other boy turned and left.

"That wasn't so bad." Elena commented and Damon gave her a curious look.

"I was restraining my fist. Something about him just makes me want to punch him every time he talks." She laughed and dragged him over to the table that Jenna, Alaric, Caroline and Bonnie were sitting at. Stefan joined them soon after, saying his hellos, and giving Elena a birthday hug.

* * *

Jenna placed her hand on Elena's.

"I'm going over to Ric's, tonight. I'll be home in the afternoon, okay?" She asked, and when Elena nodded, she gave her niece a hug and left with Alaric.

When Stefan was ready to go, Damon and Elena agreed to go as well. They said goodbye and thank you to everyone. Since Damon needed to get a few things from the house before they went back to her place, they all went home together. Stefan strolled in first, he and Elena were having some conversation about ninja's while Damon carried her in on his back because her feet hurt.

"Stef, a ninja would kick a cowboy's ass." Elena stated, her arms wrapped around Damon's neck tightly, her legs wrapped around his waist. A loud crash came from the other room and they all stopped talking immediately. Clanging of heels sounded, and a slim figure appeared in the doorway to the parlor.

"Katherine." The boys gaped in unison.

* * *

**kay; long chapter. soooooo don't hate me but i brought back katherine. well, actually you probably wont hate me cause Katherine is pretty much TVD's coolest character. other than Elijah. before he was a douche. #ElijahForMayor. done my fangirling, anyway. sorry it took me so long to update, i have been working on this chappie for a while. soo tell me what you think in the reviews, cause i love it when you do. i read everyone's. if you want to follow me on twitter: cieratee ; i love followers. **

**Next chapter we're going to see Damon being a little more vocal about everything going on. And you won't like it. But uhhh, read and review and i'll love you forever. **


	18. Bleeding Love

**Press close, bare-bosomed Night! Press close, magnetic,**  
**nourishing Night!**  
**Night of south winds! Night of the large, few stars!**  
**Still, nodding Night! Mad, naked, Summer Night!**  
** - Walt Whitman**

Stefan started coughing due to choking on his own spit, and Damon slowly let Elena drop to the ground.

"Hmm, I thought you'd be happier to see me." Katherine commented, walking closer to the three. So this was Katherine. The girl was beautiful. She looked much like Elena, brown hair, brown eyes, but her face was more grown up. She must have been around Damon's age.

"You were dead." Stefan said, once he finally stopped choking. Elena felt Damon stiffen and she grabbed his hand, lacing her fingers through his.

"Guess not." She sighed, inspecting her nails. She was wearing tight black jeans and a black leather jacket. She looked like the female version of Damon.

"But…" Stefan began, and she cut him off.

"I'm here now, Stefan. Do I look dead to you?" She looked over at Damon. "Why so quiet, Damon?" she asked, raising a dark brow at him. He didn't answer, only gripped Elena's hand tighter. "Who's the child?" She asked, and when Damon didn't answer, Elena did.

"Elena, his girlfriend." Her voice was cold, and frankly Katherine deserved the dismissal. Katherine gave a laugh and Elena sighed.

"So you're Elena. I've heard about you. You're the talk of the town sweetheart. I also hear you're a whore."

"Fuck you, Katherine." Damon seethed, and Katherine turned to look at him. Elena could feel the tremble of anger that went through him.

"Ouch."

"I think you should leave." Stefan stated, opening the door. Katherine gave him a look, then rolled her eyes. She walked by them and left, but not before her hand scraped across Damon's chest teasingly.

"I'll be back." Katherine smiled before disappearing out the door. Stefan let out a large breath and closed the door behind her.

"We were so sure that she was dead." Stefan whispered, and Elena looked up at Damon, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"She was." Damon said, lost in thought.

"Come on, we're not going to let her ruin out night. It's still my birthday." Elena muttered.

Stefan looked down at his phone.

"Actually, it's not-"

"Shut up, Stefan." Elena cut him off, pulling Damon along with her.

* * *

Damon and Elena hadn't had sex like he planned. It was her birthday, he wanted to do something special for her, but Katherine showing up put a kink in his plans. All of which involved candles, bubble baths and making out. When they got to her place, they both immediately found their way to her bed. They stared up at the ceiling, no one talking, no one touching.

Elena knew that Katherine was the only girl, besides her, that Damon had ever loved. After thinking she was dead for years, this had to feel strange. She felt strange, herself. Katherine Pierce, the girl that got between the Salvatore Brothers. The girl that manipulated them both into falling in love with her, then broke their hearts. Elena truly felt for the boys, but with how Damon reacted to her being alive, she wondered if he was actually still in love with her. Stefan's reaction was a more subtle hatred, and maybe Stefan always had been the calm one, but she'd never seen Damon so… lost. She thought she knew the man inside and out, but apparently she knew nothing when it came to him and Katherine. Was there a 'him and Katherine'? Everyone thought the girl was dead, maybe Damon loved her so much that he couldn't let go of her.

Elena was not just recalling the similarities between the girls. Katherine was about Damon's age, maybe a little younger, but her jaw structure and flawless skin showed how mature she was. Brown eyes, brown hair, the same build. They could be sisters. Maybe not sisters, but the resemblance was uncanny. Elena let out a sigh, but Damon kept still beside her.

That was probably it. Damon still loved Katherine. Elena knew not to push. She knew not to talk about the girl because Damon might have snapped, but the issue had to be resolved. Elena would attempt to talk to Stefan later, maybe he'd tell her what Damon refused to.

* * *

Caroline stepped inside the Salvatore house carefully. After the birthday party, she made it a priority to talk to Damon. She'd seen what happened between Tyler and Elena, and it got her mad. Caroline and Tyler had been casually 'dealing' for the past few weeks that Elena's been away, and although she and Tyler weren't actually dating, she liked him. And she still loved Damon. And she felt she owed it to him to tell him what happened.

"Damon?" She called, to a vast amount of nothing in the boarding house. Damon slowly descended the stairs and she gave a weak smile when he reached the bottom steps.

"Car, what's up?" he asked, ushering her into the parlor room, where he poured himself a glass of bourbon.

"I have to tell you something you're not going to want to hear…" she started.

* * *

Elena looked over at Stefan expectantly. They had been walking across Wickery Bridge, a place she feared more than death itself. Her parents died here. Stefan sighed and leaned over the side of the bridge.

"Look Elena, Damon's a really complex guy. One second he can be happy, the next he could punch someone in the face. You've seen it before, you know what he's like." Stefan started. "When he was with Katherine, he was… She destroyed him, every aspect of him. He actually used to be decent, but she tore out every good part of him. He was too in love with her to notice. Young love is dumb love." Stefan stated, and Elena sucked in a breath. Were she and Damon just dumb love? "After Katherine 'died' Damon was a complete wreck." Stefan air quoted 'died'.

"Why do you seem so unaffected with her being back?" Elena asked, standing in the middle of the bridge. She just wanted to understand.

"Look, when they were together, Damon spent every waking and sleeping hour with Katherine, or thinking about Katherine, or talking about Katherine. He fell so hard for her." Stefan explained. "Sure, I'd grown to love her, but she wasn't my life. Katherine was Damon's entire existence." Stefan stated. "You have to understand that."

"I do now." Elena whispered, shutting her eyes tightly for a moment, then pinching the bridge of her nose.

"When he falls, he falls hard, Elena. I know he loves you a lot, but he can't love you fully because his guard is always up. If you're just going to break his heart, I suggest you do it when his walls are up." Stefan said, patting Elena on the shoulder once, and turning to leave. Elena felt guilty almost immediately.

* * *

Damon was sitting in a barstool at the grill when Katherine swayed in. He looked down at his drink more thoroughly and realized he was half drunk. This was going to be fun.

"Are you talking to me yet?" She asked, sitting down next to him and flagging the bartender for bourbon.

"Depends what you're saying." Damon responded and Katherine shrugged, looking as if she was mildly curious.

"You have a new girlfriend," Katherine commented. "I don't really like her."

"You've met her once, and you called her a whore, I doubt she'd be partial to you now." Damon stated. This reminded them of their old ways of banter and annoyance. It was a fight for arrogance with the two.

"Well, I think it's reasonable that I judge her immediately, she stole my boys." Katherine smirked, taking a long sip from her drink and asking for more so she could catch up with Damon.

"We aren't you're boys, Katherine. And she didn't steal us. Is it wrong to have my girlfriend tolerating my brother without having sex with him?"

"They used to date, didn't they?" Katherine asked, and Damon turned his body to face her curiously.

"How do you know so much about my girlfriend?" He asked, chugging his drink and requesting another one.

"Small town." Katherine stated, but when she looked at Damon, she really analyzed him. "Damon, I've known you long enough to know that there's more to your bitterness then just hatred for me. What happened?"

"Stop it, Katherine." Damon stood, moving away from her. "You can't do that anymore. Read me like a book."

"What did she do?" Damon had almost forgotten how well Katherine was at seeing right through people. "You haven't been using her name, you've been saying 'my girlfriend'. So tell me what she did." Katherine said, standing as well.

"I don't think so." Damon muttered, placing down a wad of cash for the bartender and leaving the Grill.

* * *

The boarding house was quiet when Elena finally entered it. She called for Damon, but when he didn't answer and he groaned, she moved into the house to find Damon lying on his back in the middle of the study.

"What are you doing?" She asked curiously, but when he looked up he gave her the darkest of glares.

"Go away." He growled, but because it's Elena and she's stubborn as hell, she didn't budge.

"I think you should stop drinking."

"I think you're a bitch." Damon stated.

"Damon." She scolded. "You know, I don't get you sometimes. You try to be this rebellious person, while you're really just driving yourself insane. You aren't bad, Damon, you just have to see that." She said, kneeling down and touching his arm, but he flinched away from her and stood immediately, stumbling. He was so drunk.

"Look, Elena, I don't know exactly what we're doing here. What am I to you?" He asked, and she noticed how his hair was tousled and a few too many buttons of his shirt were undone.

"You're my boyfriend, Damon. You know that." She said, standing slowly from her kneel.

"Really? Because apparently you're going behind my back with someone else, and I don't think boyfriends and girlfriends are supposed to do that." Damon spat.

Elena stopped short. He knew. She should have known someone one would have seen. Caroline would have seen. It was so typical Caroline. But nothing had happened between her and Tyler. Sure, they went out to talk about things, and sure, she didn't exactly push him away when he'd kissed her, but nothing had happened.

"Damon, I'm not going behind your back." She said quietly.

"You told me you were going to Caroline's."

"And I did!" She raised her voice.

"After you went on a date and made out with your ex." Damon yelled. Thankfully, Stefan was out of the house. He didn't need to hear this.

"It wasn't a date. We- It was closure. I was ending the relationship."

"You kissed him." Damon said, hurt. Their voices were still raised, now they were just yelling at each other. Their first major fight as a couple.

"It was a goodbye kiss." Elena assured.

"That's not what Caroline said."

"Caroline over-exaggerates, you know that." Elena stated. This entire situation was killing her. She hated fighting with him, she just wanted to kiss him, and tell him that she only wanted him. But him being drunk, Katherine being back, and him knowing about Tyler was too much for him right now. "Why does it sound like you're backing out?" She asked.

"I'm not backing out!" He screamed and she flinched.

"It sounds like it." She whispered, feeling the tears threatening to escape. "Why are you scared?"

"Because I lost Katherine, and now that she's back in town, it's reminding me how easily I could lose you. I love you more than I love my own brother, you know that. But you're kissing Tyler, and you never express you're feelings to me, so I don't know what's going on in your head." Damon slurred in his drunken state. "I think we need to stop for a bit."

That felt like a slap in the face.

"I don't know if I could do that." She whispered, and now she could feel the tears.

"I waited for you for so long." He looked genuinely sad and hurt.

Elena went up to him, and kissed him hard and angrily and he didn't respond. "I'm so sorry." She whispered, but he didn't move, so she turned, wiping away her tears and leaving the Salvatore house behind.

Damon was seething. As soon as Elena left, Katherine made her way in the Salvatore house. He pulled on his jacket and gave her a look.

"Where are you going?" She asked as he walked by her.

"Get out of my house." He warned, walking out the door and away from Katherine and the house.

* * *

The Lockwood estate looked so much larger when it was dark. He made his way up the steps towards the door and knocked extremely loudly. He knew Carol Lockwood was out at some stupid council meeting because he'd skipped going to it. Tyler opened the door and his face fell.

"What?" He asked, and Damon gripped his shoulders roughly and pushed him in the house. His fist connected with Tyler's face repeatedly, and even after he saw the blood, he continued. Tyler groaned in pain when Damon kicked him hard in the stomach. But apparently Damon wasn't done because he kept hitting and hitting until he heard the faintest of whimpers from behind him.

"Damon, stop it!" She cried, and he'd stopped as if his body could no longer function. "He didn't hurt you, I did!"

Damon spun on her now, leaving a bloodied Tyler to prop himself upright and wipe away his blood. He was still drunk, and she knew that, but she wouldn't let him beat her friend to a pulp. Damon advanced on her then, walking towards her furiously as she backed into a wall.

"I'm not sorry." She whispered. "I didn't do anything wrong." His fist flew hard towards her, breaking through the thin wall just beside her face. She flinched in fear. He looked so angry that he could kill someone, and knowing Damon, he probably would. "Baby, listen to me." She said, placing a hand on his chest cautiously in fear of him lashing out again. When he whipped his head around to look at Tyler, she pulled his cheek back. "Damon, look at me." She practically growled to get his eyes back on her. "Nothing happened, Damon. Believe me. That kiss, that dinner, meant nothing to me. You've always believed me, why are you trusting Caroline over me now?" Anger still coursed through Damon. "Trust me." She was breathing heavily due to their close proximity. Her eyes flickered to Tyler, who was groaning, then back up to Damon, whose body was pressed firmly against hers.

Her face softened when she saw that dangerous glint in his eyes. That look that told her hew was doing all of this, because he was afraid of losing her.

"How can I?" He whispered the question, and if they weren't so close, she wouldn't have heard it.

"Because I love you." She said. His hand flew upwards to touch her cheek. And when he drew it back, she saw the blood. She couldn't tell if it was his blood of her blood, but then she felt the pain and realized it was hers. There was a small nick on her cheek from the smashed wood.

He stopped touching her and moved away from her quickly, leaving the house in a blur. Elena looked down at Tyler, who was wincing in pain. She knelt down beside him, tears falling freely over her cheeks.

"Are you okay? How badly are you hurt?" She asked but he stopped to look up at her.

"I think you should go." She would have been offended if she hadn't just realized what she told Damon. She hadn't questioned it though. She loved him, that was out now. She couldn't mask her feelings or pretend she just liked him. Now, she loved him, so she stood and left the Lockwood estate to go see Jeremy.

* * *

"Rough day?" Katherine asked, lounging on the couch.

"Rough life." Damon shrugged, going straight for the wet bar. She met him there, standing in front of it so he couldn't access it.

"I think you've had enough." Katherine stated and Damon looked up at the ceiling in frustration.

"Why did you come back? Why did you fake your death? What do you want from me?" Damon asked, tossing her slim body aside to get to the alcohol, but she was stronger than she looked, and she didn't budge. He could always be rough with Katherine, but Elena felt so fragile to him.

"One question at a time." And when his look was only serious, she sighed. "Fine," I faked my death so that I didn't have to deal with you and Stefan."

Damon chuckled darkly. "That's why you faked your death? You couldn't skip town like any normal person?"

"Damon, I got caught in that fire." She said, frowning at him. She raised her arm to show him the inside, which was scarred by burn marks. "I was on the verge of death, crawling out of the burning building. I didn't do it on purpose; I just thought it'd be better if you thought I was dead. I saw the opportunity and I took it." Damon laughed again and she pursed her lips. "I think you're too drunk for this conversation." She said, but he shook his head.

"You've already opened the drawer, please, go ahead and continue." Damon muttered, shrugging.

"I came back for you." She said, getting extremely close to him, and he let out a quick breath. "Not Stefan. I want you, Damon. And as much as you'd hate to admit it, you want me too." She whispered, basically against his lips. He finally closed the distance, their kisses hot and desperate. Her body molded with his perfectly, her tongue seeking entrance into his mouth. When access was granted, his hands slinked down her body to rest on her ass, which he squeezed, getting a squeal out of her. Her hands knotted in his hair with need and they fell onto the couch together. It was Katherine who finally stopped them. She sat up so that she straddled his waist.

"I'm just smart enough to know that you want some one else more." He felt her roll off of him, and heard her receding steps, then finally, the opening and closing of the front door.

Damon ran his hands through his hair. "Shit."

* * *

Jeremy didn't seem to give a shit. Neither did anyone else she knew. She called Jenna, but she was with Alaric. Bonnie was out with Caroline. Stefan was out somewhere being Stefan and that left Damon and Tyler. She couldn't talk to Damon because he was the reason she was crying in her brother's hospital room, and if she called Tyler… well at the moment, he didn't want to see her.

_Fuck your life, Elena Gilbert_. She thought, running her hands through her hair continuously.

"You know why you never date, Jeremy?" She asked her brother. "Because Gilberts always fuck it up. Got that? You might as well end it with Bonnie because eventually you'll screw her over. I screw over everyone don't I? I screwed over Matt for Stefan, and I screwed over Stefan for myself. Then I screwed over Tyler for Damon, and Damon for Tyler. I have a stellar history with guys, don't I, Jer? The thing is, I was finally getting there. I had never been as far as I was with Damon, than any other guy I've been with. Maybe that's my problem. Going too far. I mean sure, I know Damon really well, but maybe I don't know guys well enough to know what's going on. To know who's good for me. Maybe I should just die and get it over with now so I don't pull anyone else down with me." She rambled.

"You won't." A rough voice said and Elena looked up to meet his eyes.

"Jeremy?"

* * *

**YAY! Jeremy's back. So we got to see a darker side of Damon this chapter, and i think in most of the chapters, Damon was always described as mean and really ignorant and an asshole, but then i realize he's been nothing but pleasant to Elena for most of it, so the next few chapters Damon's gonna be a huge asshole. I want Elene to see how different he's being without her. More about the case will come up next chapter. **

**Don't hate me for making Damon and Katherine make out. I didn't plan for this to happen, but she was getting all sentimental and i thought it's be interesting to see Damon really break down with Katherine. There will be more Katherine next chapter, but it will be more with Elena and Stefan than Damon, because frankly after that, she'll be avoiding Damon. I hope you guys liked this chapter, because i myself really liked the emotional pain Damon was going through, much as we saw at the beginning and middle of this season. **

**Stefan will come into play a little more next chapter with Katherine, and they'll be rehatching some old memories. And since Jeremy is back, we'll see a loooot more of him. Next chapter will be a couple days later than this chapter, and Jeremy and Elena will have a few heart to hearts. **

**thankyou for reading and reviewing, everyone. i really appreciate it, and i'd love to see more. i love it when i see new reviews. if you're just tuning in now, and having been following and reading these little bottom blurbs, follow me on twitter, cieratee . i'm sort of a loner on twitter so it's always nice to have followers. what are we all going to do without TVD until september. shoot me now. or don't because i'll never see next season. unless they have T.V in the afterlife. if there is an afterlife... anyways, thankyou all!**


	19. Home

**Do what we can, summer will have its flies. **

**- Ralph Waldo Emerson**

"I screwed up, Ric. Big time." Damon said, downing another glass of whisky. Alaric put a hand over his to stop him. He needed to slow down his drinking or people would have thought he was an alcoholic. Or maybe Damon was.

"First you almost hit you girlfriend, then you make out with your dead ex-girlfriend. Yep, things are looking down for you." Alaric commented, motioning for the pretty blonde bartender to cut Damon off. She gave a smile and turned away, much to Damon's dislike, though he got to study her back end.

"Thanks, I'd almost forgotten everything I did. Thank you. Do you want to announce to the world what happened? Hey everyone, I almost punched my girlfriend then I made out with my ex!" Damon yelled at the top of his lungs to the scarce amount of people at the Mystic Grill.

"Damon!" Alaric scolded, and when Damon turned around, his eyes fell to the slim brunette that had just entered the Grill.

"What?" Elena whispered, her entire face falling. Damon saw the scratch mark just below her temple and the way her eyes were puffy. He also noticed the quiver of her swollen bottom lip which he figured was from biting. She stopped, turning around immediately and almost bumping into Bonnie, who watched her friend leave awkwardly.

"Shit, Elena." Damon stood quickly to follow her. By now, all eyes were on them. It was a small town; he figured there wasn't much drama here. Damon ran out the door after her, brushing past Bonnie, who stared after them for a second, then contemplated, then looked over to Alaric, who motioned for her to leave it alone.

"Elena, stop!" Damon called after her, following her down the dark streets of Mystic Falls. She whipped around so he could see her crying eyes. Tears flew down her cheeks and it hurt him so much to see her like that.

"What's the point?" She asked, looking up at him sadly. "It doesn't matter any more, Damon. If you really cared, you wouldn't have done anything about it. Maybe it's- it's a thing of pride or some kind of- of possessive thing, but I don't understand why you went off like that." Elena was stumbling over her words and as much as Damon wanted to interrupt, he knew better. "I've never seen anyone do that before, and I know you have your reasons but he kissed me once. He kissed me goodbye and if that's what makes you tick, I don't know if I should be around you if you lash out over that little of a thing. You hurt me, physically and emotionally." She placed a hand on the red scratch.

"Elena, I never meant to hurt you-"

"Well you fucking did!" she screeched through tears. "And I don't think we can make this work right now." She said, turning around again and continuing walking.

"Elena!" Damon called again, but she didn't turn so he caught back up with her. "Elena you love me." He said, appearing in front of her. "And that should be enough to fight for." He finished. She looked up at him once curiously.

"Tell Katherine I say hi." She commented, before brushing past him again. This time he didn't dare chase after her.

* * *

"Jeremy, we have your release forms, we just need you and your aunt to sign a couple things before we can let you go. We also want to just check all your vitals once more and then it's home sweet home." The doctor, Dr. Renald said enthusiastically. Jeremy only nodded; receiving the documents from him, and watching him exit the room. A nurse came in right after with a laptop, hooking one of his IV wires into the side of it. She scanned the computer while he signed on the dotted line, then handed Jenna the papers.

"Okay, so everything looks okay, but we want you in again next week for a check up. If you feel funny, or any tingling feelings or pain, I want you to call immediately because we don't know how you'll react yet." The nurse gave him a toothy smile and he offered a small one as well. "Okay, so if you're done signing, I'll take the papers and you can collect your things and clear out. Remember, no driving, no sports and don't do anything to stress your mind too much until you come in next Wednesday for your check up. Have a great day." She smiled again, taking the papers from Jenna and leaving the room. Jeremy looked around the room once more to check for anyone's belongings.

As soon as Jeremy got home, he was greeted with a big hug from his sister. The house was messy, disorganized and cluttered, and he figured it must have been either a zoo, or neglected around here since he's been out. One month, and three days, Jeremy lied in that hospital bed unresponsive. When Jenna stated she needed to get some sleep, the two followed her upstairs, but instead of Jeremy going to his room, he followed Elena to hers, where he sat on the bed with her. Now it was time for everything that happened in the past month to come out.

"Um, so how are things with you and Damon?" Jeremy asked slowly.

"Me and Damon aren't exactly on speaking terms." Elena said.

"Want to talk about it?" He asked, and Elena sucked in a huge breath. She and Damon were a sore subject, but maybe it'd help to get all of her thoughts out.

"When we came home, when we came back for you, we were so happy together. As a couple, we were at the newlywed stage. He told me he loved me, and we were so perfect together. I went out with Tyler one night…" Jeremy winced but she hushed him with a glare. "I went out with Tyler, just to clear things up, clean break, and when he dropped me off at Caroline's house after dinner, he kissed me. Like full on kiss. And I let him, and I regret it, but I didn't think Caroline would see and blab about it. It got around to Damon and he was so pissed with me. He got really drunk and he beat up Tyler and he almost hurt me. And I found out that his ex-girlfriend, who's supposed to be dead, came back. They made out and when Damon and I bumped into each other at the grill we had a big fight. And now we're on the outs." Elena finally took in a large breath and let it out. The whole while Jeremy was listening intently, nodding here and there, but when he looked up at her with those familiar brown eyes, she gave in. "And I told him I loved him."

"You what?" Jeremy asked taking a double-take.

"I couldn't stop myself anymore, Jer. I love him, and as of now, not much is going to change that."

"I think you're both extremely immature." Jeremy shrugged, looking at his sister who had a hurt look on her face. "Yeah, you shouldn't have let him kiss you, that was stupid, and he shouldn't have lashed out at you, that was stupid, but what's even more stupid is trying to fight it. Trying to fight those feelings makes them hurt even more." Jeremy said, and she figured he was speaking from experience. She remembered Vicki Donovan, Matt's sister. The trouble maker/ bad girl/ druggie. Elena never liked the girl but Jeremy was so fond of her, even loved her, and overdose took the poor girl's life.

"He made out with the most unreasonably bitchy girl I've ever met. It doesn't matter if he was drunk or not, he did what he did."

"And you did what you did." Jeremy said, and she figured that topic of their conversation was over.

"Where were you?" Elena asked after moments of silence.

"The hospital…" Jeremy was confused.

"What did you see when you were in a coma, I mean." Elena clarified and Jeremy looked over at her, getting up.

"We're not going to go there right now, I just got home." Jeremy said before leaving.

* * *

"So Stefan," Katherine said, falling into step behind him as he walked past the Mystic Grill to the convenience store. "I think I have a bone to pick with you." She stated, her long, curly brown hair bouncing as she walked. He didn't bother looking behind him because he knew the look she had on her face. That 'I'm up to something' and 'I'm in this town to make your life hell' look.

"And what's that Miss. Katherine?" He asked, playing it off.

She sped up so she was standing in front of him, blocking his path from walking.

"I was talking to Pearl when I got out of the hospital." Pearl. He'd almost forgotten the girl. She was about Katherine's size and age, her best friend. A pretty Asian woman with long dark hair and pale skin. She was nice enough, even though Stefan had only met her a few times. "She said she was at the memorial service for everyone that died in the church, and you didn't show." Katherine raised her eyebrow at him. "And don't give me a stupid excuse, because Damon was there." Stefan gave her a glare.

"Damon was there because Damon was completely obsessed with you, and he thought you were dead. I wasn't, and I knew you weren't." Stefan gave a smile. Katherine frowned.

"Everyone thought I died, even Pearl." Katherine whispered. "How did you know?" She asked, and he moved to walk away, but she grabbed his arm forcefully and turned him back. "How did you know, Stefan?"

"I saw you." Stefan whispered.

* * *

Alaric looked over at Elena sadly. He definitely felt bad for the young girl who'd been tossed through the ringer this summer. She didn't deserve any of this; she was a good human being. Jenna entered the kitchen now, and he averted his gaze from the girl, not without memorizing the slouch in her walk, and how she made every task look so tiring and awful.

"You're life won't end." Alaric said quietly when Jenna went to set the table in the other room. She gave him a look, one of those knowing looks. "You're better than Damon. I know I'm his friend, his only friend and everything, but he's a douche and you don't need him."

"Everyone keeps telling me that, but it doesn't change how I feel Ric." Elena sighed, pushing her messy hair out of her eyes.

"Everyone has to experience heart ache, Elena, and if you don't, you're not human." Alaric said, placing a hand on her back and steering her towards the kitchen.

Maybe Alaric was right. She always knew she was a great person, and maybe Damon just brought her down, but it didn't feel like that. When she was with Damon she was always happy. Wherever they were, whatever they were doing she was always happy. And she understood why he acted the way he did when he found out about Tyler. Katherine wavered between him and Stefan and he didn't want that with Elena. He loved Katherine so much and that hurt him so much. All of that was reasonable, but it didn't justify his aggression towards her. He didn't know how scared she was when he'd almost punched her. When he turned on her, and she saw that danger in his eyes, she felt more scared than she ever remembered being.

She planned on talking to him, but later, when he cooled off. If he cooled off.

* * *

Damon had been sitting on the couch when Stefan came home, followed by Katherine and Sheriff Forbes. Damon looked up from his glass of Bourbon and jumped up immediately.

"Sheriff, I didn't know you were coming over." He went to greet her, then glare at Katherine, who smirked. "Stefan, why don't you take Katherine upstairs or something…" Damon trailed off, and Stefan grumbled and walked up the stairs while Katherine stopped to give him a kiss on the cheek before following Stefan. God, that girl made him crazy. Liz looked around awkwardly, and he finally moved her into the parlor to sit and talk.

"We found Klaus." She started, and he raised his eyebrows curiously. "We brought him in for questioning last night, so we can still hold him for a few more hours."

"How did you find him?" Damon asked.

"We searched all the foreclosures and temporary housing units in town until we found him."

"And what does he have to say?"

"He actually confessed to everything. He said he thought that Elena Gilbert was in that car." Liz looked up at him cautiously.

"What?" Damon said, alarmingly. "Why?"

"He said she ruined his life." Liz said.

"Well, how? That's vague." Damon snorted. Though he couldn't help but feel enraged. Someone was trying to kill his girlfriend. Ex-girlfriend.

"That's when he stopped talking." The sheriff said, standing slowly.

"So what can you do with him?" Damon stood as well, and they both slowly made their way to the door.

"We can get him for reckless driving, charge him and bring him to court, but we can't do much, he's still a minor."

"Shit." Damon spat. "But isn't that like, attempted murder?" He asked incredulously.

Liz shrugged, thinking it over. "The judge wouldn't go for that. We need some more info first. I'll call you if we get any more out of him." Liz said. "But I think maybe you should talk to Elena about it. If she knows the guy, she could provide information. Plus I hear Jeremy Gilbert just got out of the hospital, I think maybe you can get some information out of her before we pull her into everything, which we'll have to do if we want to charge Klaus."

Damon nodded reluctantly watching her leave the house.

Katherine ran down the stairs not a second later.

"You were listening." Damon accused, moving into the kitchen.

"Wait so, what happened with your girlfriend?" Katherine leaned against the counter casually. He noticed the lack of clothing she was wearing and glared down at her body hesitantly. She only wore the tightest and shortest of black skirts he's ever seen along with a tight fitting black tank top. He looked back up to her eyes, then moved to the fridge to busy himself.

"That's what I'm going to find out." Damon stated, giving her a light, soft tap on the cheek before leaving the house.

* * *

Elena opened the door quickly, her eyes meeting the intense gaze of Damon Salvatore, whose hand was caught midair in a fist.

"Um. Hi. I was just about to go see you." Elena stated awkwardly.

"We should talk." Damon said, pushing his way past her and into the house.

"Come in." She said to herself as Damon made his way upstairs to her room. She followed him reluctantly, and watched him make himself comfortable on her bed.

"How's Jeremy?" He asked, looking up at her as he sat her teddy bear on his lap. She slowly sat down at the edge of the bed.

"Fine. What is it you came here for, Damon? I'm sure it's not to make sure my brother is okay."

"It's about his case. I've seen to it that Sheriff Forbes followed the case through to find out who did this, and she has." Elena looked stunned.

"I didn't even know there was a case. I thought they dropped it." She said, twiddling her thumbs.

"Elena, do you know a guy named Klaus?" Damon asked, squinting his eyes.

Elena looked down at her lap. She frowned, and he figured she was trying to think.

"I- I remember Klaus. The name, I remember Klaus, I just don't remember…"

"Klaus." Damon repeated the name to finish her sentence. "He said you ruined his life."

Elena didn't seem to register what he was saying she was still trying to think of him. Trying to search her brain.

"Klaus…Klaus…Klaus…" She repeated the name continuously and he stared at her. Her hair was tied in a high ponytail and she was wearing these little short shorts and a tight shirt that it was hard to focus on anything but her. She looked up at him then in awe.

"Oh my God. Damon, Tyler introduced me to a guy named Klaus on the night that you and I… that we hooked up. At that party we went to." Elena said quickly. "Klaus was the one that gave me the weed." She stated, her hands rubbing her eyes hastily. "I don't remember how I ruined his life though. I barely spoke four words to the guy."

"So you didn't…" Damon trailed off.

"No, Damon. No I didn't." She whispered, curious as to why he would imply a sexual relationship. "I think we should talk about… everything."

"I know."

"Then let's talk." She said.

"I'm an idiot." He started.

"Well, we both agree on something." Elena said, and he glared at her so she shut up.

"As I said, I'm an idiot. I acted out because of an entirely different situation that occurred years ago." Damon looked down. "I never meant to hurt you. I just, I love you so much and then Katherine came back and she was all… Katherine and I just didn't know how to react."

"Well making out with her didn't help your cause." She stated and he nodded.

"I know, I was just so drunk and.."

"That doesn't matter Damon, don't you know that? I don't care how drunk you were, if you really loved me you wouldn't think about touching her. Sober or drunk."

"Yes and I know that…"

"Well clearly you don't because you kissed her anyway."

"Babe, I know-"

"I'm not your babe." She growled.

"I'm sorry. There's nothing that can justify what I did. If there's anything I can do to make it better than tell me." Damon looked so vulnerable lying on her bed. She just wanted to kiss him, but right now, she couldn't.

"I'm in love with you." She whispered. "And I've never been in love, and I doubt I know what it even means but I can tell what we have is more than liking each other. I think I need more time, but if I see a change, make we could try to make it work. From the beginning."

Damon smiled.

"Really?" He asked, and she nodded, standing up.

"I think you should go. I have to talk to Jeremy." She said and he nodded and stood quickly. He approached her though, moving to grab one of her hands.

"I love you so much and I'm so sorry." He said again, before pressing a kiss on her cheek, and disappearing out the door.

She couldn't give in that easily. He hurt her, she hurt him. It would take time to get them back to normal, but if he was willing to try, maybe she was too.

* * *

"I was in some kind of strange place." Jeremy finally said. "It was Mystic Falls, but the people, the relationships were all messed up." He was finally talking to her about the coma and she was glad because the thought had been bugging her since Jeremy got home.

"Go on." Elena whispered when he stopped for a second.

"I wasn't dating anyone. I was all alone and I always felt so awful. You were with Stefan, which was really weird because you were always kissing and the PDA was just gross. Damon was… married to a girl named Katherine." Elena's face fell. "And Caroline and Bonnie were… together."

Elena laughed then. "They were gay?" She asked.

"Yep." Jeremy winced.

"But what was so bad about it?" She asked, catching the dark undertone in his voice as he told his story.

"Before I woke up, you were killed. The guy who killed you said you murdered his parents." Elena raised a brow. "His name was Klaus."

* * *

**Hello everyone! Thankyou for the reviews, none of my other stories have ever had this much, but none of them have also been this long. I can't really tell home much longer this is gonna be but i doubt it will be over thirty chapters. I know this is a long chapter but we have some character progress.**

**Sheriff Forbes has Klaus, and next chapter, Elena's going to pay Klaus a little visit in his temporary jail to talk to him and you're going to find out a strange twist. Stefan knows Katherine was never dead, this is actually true, and next chapter Stefan's going to confront Damon about Katherine. I hope you liked this chapter, it's longer than usual but i really liked having Jeremy home. **

**follow me on twitter: cieratee and i'll greatly appreciate it.**


	20. Questions

**Summer has set in with its usual severity. **

** - Samuel Taylor Coleridge**

"Bonnie, I can't even remember what we talked about, how am I supposed to remember how I ruined his life?" Elena said, rifling through her closet for something to wear.

"Did he like, roofie you or something?" Bonnie asked and Elena turned to glare at her best friend.

"Bonnie, I went home with Damon that night." She said.

"You little bitch." Bonnie spat. "You were my ride home and you ditched me to have sex with Damon?" Elena gave a short laugh at her best friend.

"We didn't have sex that night. Thanks to Jeremy." Bonnie frowned but nudged the conversation on.

"So what are you going to do?" She asked.

Elena contemplated. Klaus was a complete mystery to her. She hadn't heard the name since the beginning of summer when Tyler introduced them. Maybe she met him when she was drunk again some other day and didn't remember.

"I don't know. I mean, what can I do? Klaus tried to kill me. Who's to say he won't try again when he gets out?" Elena asked. The thought was unnerving.

"He had so many opportunities to do it before Sheriff Forbes found him, why didn't he then?" Bonnie asked, looking up as Jeremy joined them in the room, sitting on the bed behind Bonnie's lying form and playing with her hair. "Maybe he won't do anything."

"But maybe he will, and I'm sorry but I'm not partial to having someone try to kill my sister." Jeremy stated, and Elena rolled her eyes, shuffling through the summer dresses again.

"Why don't you go down to the station? Ask the Sheriff if you can speak to him. You know, safely so he can't hurt you." Bonnie suggested and Elena shrugged.

"That's actually not a bad idea, Bon." Elena agreed, taking out a white dress and shooing Jeremy from the room so that she could change.

* * *

"Do you ever knock?" Damon asked, looking up at Katherine, who was making her way through his bedroom to join him on the bed.

"Well, you always leave your doors unlocked, it's practically an invitation." Katherine shrugged, attempting to read the title of the book Damon was reading. He lifted up the cover so she could read it out loud. "Call of the Wild. Jack London." Katherine gave a considerate nod and looked back up to him.

"What do you want? Why are you always wandering around my house?" Damon asked, setting the book down to look at her.

"I get bored. This town's so small." Katherine said, tracing patterns on his bed sheets.

"Then leave it." Damon suggested but she shook her head hastily.

"I just got here, why would I want to leave? Plus, I'd just miss you." She said, crawling over top of him to straddle him seductively. Damon rolled his eyes and gripped her waist.

"Yeah, as great as this is, I'm trying to repair a relationship and having sex with you wouldn't really help me out." Damon muttered, picking her up and moving her off of him.

"Oh come on. No one will know about it." She said, running her hands along his thighs, and as much as he wanted her, he slapped her hands away.

"I don't think so, princess." He said, getting extremely close to her face after standing up. He tilted her pouting face up to look at him. "Go try Stefan." Damon whispered, pushing her chest so she fell back against the bed.

* * *

"So, the Lockwood's are having another one of those dinners tonight and Carol expects us to all be there, is that okay?" Jenna asked the two minors in front of her. She didn't understand why they had to have so many stupid get-togethers. There was one like, every other week, and she understood how small this town was, but are Founders Parties necessary?

"Oh come on. There was one a few weeks ago." Jeremy groaned, pushing his sister out of the way of the drawer he'd been attempting to get into for five minutes. She finally budged and moved away.

"Really?" Elena asked. "I don't have a date though, who am I supposed to bring?"

"I call Bonnie!" Jeremy yelled and she pushed hard on his chest.

"Come on! She's my best friend." Elena complained.

"Why can't you just go with Damon?" Jeremy asked, and Jenna turned to leave the house because she was tired of hearing the two bicker all the time. Since Jeremy had gotten home, the house had grown considerably louder, what with the two constantly fighting.

"Because we're not together anymore."

"Well, take Caroline." Jeremy suggested.

"She's going with Tyler."

"So go alone." Jeremy finally said, swatting his sister's head before running up the stairs.

* * *

The police station was buzzing with people when Elena and Damon entered later that afternoon. Elena had called Damon and asked if he'd accompany her, and Damon was pleasantly surprised and over in a matter of minutes. Anything to get away from Katherine who followed him everywhere he went.

"Sheriff." Damon flagged her down as she was walking past them in the main office.

"Damon, Elena. Come with me." She said, and Damon gave Elena the slightest of nudges on her lower back to get her moving in the direction of the blond woman. "Okay, so there are no cameras in the room, but there are officers just outside. He can't touch you because the rooms are divided by the glass wall. Damon, you can go in with her but you can't talk to him, only Elena can." Sheriff explained and opened the door to the room.

There was a boy sitting behind the glass at a desk. Elena instantly remembered him. His dusty hair, the violent look in his eyes when he finally spotted her. She took in a breath and entered the room reluctantly. She inched in, feeling Damon close behind her. He placed an encouraging hand on her shoulder and steered her towards the chair across from Klaus. There were rows of the little cubicles, with two other people in the room with them, talking to someone on the opposite end of the glass. Klaus looked like a normal boy. Tattered clothing and brushed back hair. She picked up the phone, her eyes connecting with his. It was like a force field, she couldn't look away, even as he moved to grab his phone, their eyes stayed locked.

"Klaus." Elena enunciated, and she felt Damon's hand on her knee, but he was quiet.

"Elena." He said. He didn't look at all surprised that she'd come to visit. Maybe he'd been told, or maybe he was waiting for her to come. "You look nice today. Did you get all dressed up for me?" Klaus asked and Elena heard an eminent growl come from Damon.

"What do you want with me?" Elena asked, avoiding his question and straightening out her dress.

Klaus gave a short laugh and leaned closer to the glass. "I don't want anything with you."

"Then why did you try to kill me?" She asked, looking to Damon, whose infuriated glare was stuck on Klaus.

"You murdered my parents." Klaus said. So there was something real about Jeremy's dream. Klaus did think she killed his parents.

"So that's it? You're just crazy?" Elena asked. "I think I would know if I killed someone." She looked confident enough but Klaus saw right through to the little girl who was terrified of the masochistic teenager.

"You do know. It was more of an… accidental murder." Klaus raised his eyebrows at her and her face fell. She took in a shaky breath and frowned.

"What- do you-" Elena couldn't form a coherent sentence. Elena became stiff, her whole body shrinking away from Klaus and the glass wall. Her mouth was open and she was breathing heavily, a frown knitting through her perfectly sculpted eyebrows.

"You know who, Elena." Klaus smirked. His pupils were dilated to the point where she couldn't see them in the mysterious orbs of his.

Elena looked to Damon, who was utterly confused and then she looked down at her feet. She was trying to talk but words weren't coming out.

"That night, when you killed your parents, you killed mine too." Klaus stated giving a venomous look that scared Elena so much that she started crying. Damon stood, knocking on the glass door to the guard, who buzzed open the door finally. She felt his hand grip her arm and tug on her, then she heard the clanging of the telephone on the metal of the desk. Damon kept saying her name as he dragged her out of the room, but her eyes remained on Klaus who was watching her intently.

* * *

She couldn't breath. It was as if someone had her pinned to the wall, their hands pressing hard against her neck so that she suffocated to death. Instead, she was hidden deep in the sheets and blankets of Damon's cold bed, sobbing. She didn't know why she was so emotional, or she did, but she didn't want it to be true. She didn't want to think about it anymore. She didn't want to move or breathe right now. While DNA testing was being done, Elena couldn't do anything but wait. Klaus… Her brother. He couldn't have been. There were no documents or pictures or anything that told them it was true. But why make up such an elaborate lie? Elena felt the absence of Damon's body as soon as he set her down on his bed and left the room, but she knew this was what she needed.

The quiet and the time to think this through, so she buried herself deep in the sheet of Damon's large bed. Everything smelled like him. Like aftershave and peppermint and spice. It was hard to concentrate on anything right now. She'd never seen such bitterness in Damon's eyes. Such regret in anyone's eyes. The door creaked open but she couldn't look because she was trapped under mounds of pillows.

"Elena?" A female voice asked. Elena pushed the pillows and blankets away from her face to look up at the slim figure in the doorway. She was hesitant to enter, Elena could tell. Her curly brown hair fell in ripples down her shoulders. Elena wanted to throw up.

"Damon's not here and I'm sorry but I don't feel like making out with anyone right now." Elena spat, sitting up against the dark wood headboard. Katherine grimaced and finally entered the room, sitting on the edge of the bed. She held out a mug filled with a hot substance towards Elena, but she turned her head away from it.

"Drink it." She was persistent so Elena took the mug from her outstretched hand and drank from it. Coffee. "Damon told me about your visit to the station. He's not home, that's why I'm here. He would have killed me before letting me talk to you."

"With good reason." Elena said. "What do you want?"

"Look Elena, I'm just trying to be nice." Katherine stood up, and Elena knew the other girl was about to start ranting. "I'm not going to say sorry for what Damon and I did, because I'm not. But Damon loves you, and he's sorry, so I think it's in your best interest to forgive him."

"What's in it for you? I know enough about people like you to know you only do something that benefits yourself. What would me being with Damon do for you?" Elena asked. Katherine gave a smirk, then moved towards the door, looking back at her.

"It'll keep you from fucking everything up for me." Katherine said before closing the door.

Elena stared after the girl for a while. She didn't understand. But her thoughts were rudely interrupted when Damon entered the room.

"Elena." He said, moving closer to her. "How are you doing?"

"Where were you?" She asked, staring down at her coffee and avoiding his gaze.

"I went back to the station. Elena, the results came back a few minutes ago. You're parents are Klaus'." Damon stated.

Elena frowned in deep thought.

"No that's impossible." Elena started but Damon cut her off with the shake of a head. "Then why was he never with us? Why did my parents keep us apart? Why would I never have met my own brother?" Elena asked him.

"You were adopted." Damon said bluntly. There didn't seem to be a bit of remorse in his eyes, though Elena's were tearing up.

"What? No."

"Elena-" Damon started as soon as she got out of the bed.

"No, I'm going home." Elena said quickly. She needed to see Jenna, Jenna would know everything.

* * *

The house was quiet when Elena got home, but Elena knew her aunt was around. Her car was in the drive way.

"Jenna?" She called, and soon enough she heard the girl coming down the stairs.

"Elena, hey how did it go?" Jenna asked, but when she noticed Elena's puffy eyes and the anger in her voice she stopped immediately.

"Did you know?" She asked. Jenna opened her mouth to talk but Elena just gave a cold laugh. "You knew. Why didn't you tell me?"

"They told me not to! They didn't want you to know."

"Why?"

"Because Klaus was diagnosed with personality disorder and schizophrenia from a young age, he's been in mental institutions his entire life. They were embarrassed and they knew this was how you'd react. I got a call saying he escaped from the institution a few weeks ago." Jenna looked down at her feet. "I didn't want you involved."

"He didn't seem schizophrenic both times I met him." Elena stated, and her Aunt nodded.

"He wouldn't have. It fades in and out. Just before your parents died his doctor told them that it was lessening. It was a rare case, not many had heard of a disappearing disease like that. But, Elena, he's not stable."

"So who are my parents?" she asked, "My birth certificate said Miranda and Grayson Gilbert on them."

"Grayson was a doctor, he had access to the records and he changed it." Jenna explained, but that wasn't the answer Elena was looking for. "Your uncle John, your father's brother. He's your biological dad."

"So who's my mother?" Elena asked sternly. Jenna shook her head.

"Her name was Isobel Flemming. She…. died giving birth to you." Jenna said, and Elena sucked in a huge breath. "I'm sorry Elena; they didn't want you to know because everything was so messed up." Jenna stated.

That didn't stop Elena from being mad.

"Tell Carol Lockwood I'm sorry I couldn't attend the dinner, I just don't feel well." Elena said before running up the stairs.

* * *

"So we're not siblings?" Jeremy asked after Elena had calmed down. It was a couple hours before the Lockwood dinner and the two were sitting in her room talking. He couldn't believe that Elena wasn't his sister. After sixteen years of thinking they were brother and sister and now they find out they aren't.

"Cousins." Elena gave a forced smile. "I think… I think Klaus is right. He has every reason to be pissed at me. It's my fault our parents… your parents are dead. I was so drunk at that party."

"Elena, don't think like that. It's not your fault, it never has been."

"Yes. It has."

* * *

"So I take it Elena's not going to the founder's party tonight?" Stefan asked his older brother curiously.

"Doubt it." Damon shrugged. "Why?"

"Well I was just wondering who you were going to take." Stefan shrugged. Damon looked over at the boy.

"You, little brother. I think we should do some of that brotherly bonding that dad always said would be good for us." Damon threw an arm over Stefan's shoulder and he shrugged it off like Damon was infected or something. The older Salvatore gave a laugh as the younger one growled.

"Then who's going to take me?" Katherine asked, entering the room. She had on a tight black dress, long sleeved and reaching half way to her knees. The boys just stared at her for a few moments.

"God, do you want to just live here?" Damon asked and Katherine gave a smile and nodded.

"I grabbed the room right next to yours, hope you don't mind Damon." The sad thing about her comment was that she wasn't lying. Katherine decided it was time to nuzzle her way into the boarding house under the Salvatore's noses. "So, what do you say Damon? How about I'll be your date and Stefan can fly solo." Katherine gave Stefan a look of disgust and he squinted at her childishly.

"Great." She smiled before he could object and she skipped past the brothers and out the door.

"Does she get more impossible every day?" Damon asked, staring after where the girl left.

"Yep." Stefan popped the 'p' on his lips. "Hey, so, don't hate me but I have to tell you something."

"Why would I hate you?" Damon turned on his brother and Stefan was instantly startled by the fierceness of his eyes.

"You know what? Never mind, it's not important. We should go, Katherine's waiting." Stefan hurried along the other boy.

* * *

"This party is dull." Caroline stated bluntly, looking over at Tyler who was buzzed off the wine he was drinking.

"I couldn't agree with you more." He said, slightly annoyed by Caroline's constant complaining. The two had been casually dating for a couple weeks now and Caroline was ecstatic. But Tyler wasn't. He always pretended she was Elena, and as sad as it was, it worked. It'd be an understatement to say that he still liked Elena a lot. He always thought about her, Caroline was just a toy to distract himself from going after her again. He'd been beat down last time he'd tried.

"So let's like, leave." She suggested.

"Caroline, my mom's throwing the party, don't you think it'd be a little suspicious if her son was missing?" Tyler, who currently had remnants of a black eye and cuts on his lip, stared at the blonde.

"Well…" Caroline started.

"Shut up." He said just before Katherine walked in on Damon's arm, Stefan trailing behind them.

"God, you're here?" Damon asked stupidly, looking down at Katherine who gave him a slightly scolding look.

"I live here. Tyler _Lockwood_, _Lockwood _estate." Tyler vocalized and Caroline lounged on the pillar behind him.

"Right…"

"Who's this? Already moved off of Elena? Dude, I thought you two were inseparable." Tyler looked down at the brunette curiously for a second two long, his eyes trailing up and down her body.

Katherine lifted two fingers to point them towards her dark brown irises. "Eyes up here, _Lockwood_." She raised an eyebrow, extending a hand towards the boy. "Katherine." She smirked.

Tyler shook it then dropped his hand. "Well, please, come in." He said sarcastically, throwing a glare at Damon who just rolled his eyes and pushed Katherine and Stefan through the party.

Katherine's heels clicked all the way through the party, and soon Damon got annoyed and swatted her hand off of his upper arm. The party had gathered into another room, so he pushed her up hard against the crème colored walls of the house. She gave a short laugh and he pressed her even further.

"What are you trying to accomplish?" He asked as she skimmed her hand down his tie and back up it again.

"What do you mean, Mr. Salvatore?" She asked flirtatiously, but he hit her head back against the wall roughly and she growled.

"What do you want Katherine?"

"I'm not lying, Damon, I actually want you." She raised an eyebrow at him.

"No. You're lying." He stated after a moment and she finally gave in.

"It wasn't the Salvatore brothers I was running from, believe it or not, you aren't that scary." Katherine said, her smile disappearing.

"Then who were you running from?"

"Klaus."

* * *

**Wow, i know this is sort of bad and i'm probably the only one who does this, but i haven't anything planned out ahead of time. None of this story was planned. And i think it's working okay, but i'm still not sure what's going on with Katherine. Anyways, i hated this chapter it really sucked, but stay tuned i guess, because i think they'll get better. maybe. i dont know. **

**leave your opinions and comments in the reviews, much appreciate. **

**( did anyone catch how i dropped my username in the story? re-read Klaus' words to Elena ) **


	21. Stories Told

**No price is set on the lavish summer;**  
**June may be had by the poorest comer.**  
** - James Russell Lowell, _The Vision of Sir Launfal_, 1848**

Damon sat across the couch from Katherine, who was leaning back on the pillows behind her in exhaustion. He didn't know that Founder's Parties had become so tedious. His eyes strained to look over the dim light towards her eyes. As soon as Katherine confessed to running from Klaus, she'd wandered away from him and he'd only finally come home to find her lounging on the couch.

"So, are you going to tell me everything, or do I have to force it out of you?" Katherine hesitated and then gave him a dark look, but he urged her forward with an artificial smile.

"This isn't the first time Klaus escaped." Katherine started, averting her gaze from Damon's eyes. "My father was in the same institution, he was a dangerous schizophrenic, just like Klaus. They're rooms were in the same hallway, and everyday I passed by Klaus' room to get to my dad's. Every time I'd look through the window and catch him staring at me. When the patients were aloud outside on the grounds, Klaus would watch me for hours and hours when I spoke with my dad." Katherine looked down at her dress, playing with the material. "I talked to him once, and then more, and every time I went to the institution I'd be polite and say hello. One day I walked past his room and he wasn't there. I got home and he was waiting on my porch. God knows how he knew where I lived, but there he was. I would have called the police but he left. It happen about twenty more times until I made the mistake of inviting him in. He tried to…" Katherine's voice trailed off and Damon gave her an understanding look. "But he didn't. Someone had heard my screaming and called the cops, and they brought him back to the institution." She gave a small pout to her lips before smiling widely. "And then I met you."

"I know that part of the story…" Damon started, but she cut him off.

"You don't know my side, my feelings. All you know was yours. I thought you were the most beautiful man I've ever met, I still do. Then I got to know you, and I liked you even more and then I met Stefan. I was stupid; I should have realized what I had when I was with you instead of throwing it all away with Stefan." Katherine gave him an apologetic look, and Katherine didn't do sorry. "I fell in love with you on our sixth date. You took me to the museum, and we both hated it because it was so dull, but I didn't care. You'd make stupid jokes about what the sculptures looked like to you, and it'd always end up being a moose with a cowboy hat or a cactus wearing pants." She smiled at the fond memory and he had to look away to the fire she'd made in the fire place. "You remember, because that was the night you fell in love with me too." She whispered, making him look back at her.

"I was stupid." Damon stated matter-of-factly.

"Love makes us stupid, Damon." She said, then continued with her story. "When you found out about Stefan you were so angry with me. I felt so bad about everything but I played it off. As much as it looked like I didn't care, you should know that I did, and I still do. What I did was wrong, I know that." Her face fell and he figured she was thinking back to when he'd confronted her about sleeping with Stefan.

"I hated you so much." Damon muttered.

"I know." Katherine responded. "A week later, Klaus escaped again. He threatened to kill me if I didn't… do things." Katherine shrugged. "I didn't know why he was so obsessed with me. I had never had a full-blown conversation with the guy. Maybe it was just because he was crazy that he started stalking me." Katherine finally sought out for Damon's eyes and she saw the hesitation in his. "That fundraiser you made me sign up for weeks earlier finally presented itself and I saw it as a distraction. From you and Klaus. We were counting food cans for the food drive when one of the candles dropped. It fell and hit the carpet, and then all of them fell, and soon enough, the church was in flames and I was inside it. I climbed out of the back through a window because the front door was stuck and just as I got out, the building fell, trapping everyone inside." She looked down again nervously. "Did Stefan tell you… Stefan saw me. I didn't see him but when I was talking to him the other day he told me he saw me climb out. He saw that I was safe. That's why he wasn't at the memorial. He knew I was alive all along." Damon was shocked. Stefan hadn't told him this. "Klaus was put back in the institution and I didn't ever go back to that place. After I skipped town I moved to Paris for a while. When I finally came home I got a call saying Klaus escaped again, so I came to Mystic Falls. I didn't know about Elena and Jeremy."

"You'd think after the many times of escaping, they'd keep him under supervision all the time."

"They did, Damon. Klaus is a genius, he can find his way out of anything which is why I suggest we all leave town. He'll be out soon enough; the sheriff can't keep him in for long." Katherine suggested but Damon shook his head.

"I'm not leaving." Damon stated and she nodded.

"Then I guess I'm not either." He didn't understand this side of Katherine. She was always manipulative and seductive and selfish when he'd known her, but this Katherine was so honest that it scared him. "Damon, there wasn't a day I went without thinking about you, and how much I regretted hurting you."

"I think you should get some sleep, it's been a long day." He said, standing up and moving away from her. Katherine watched him walk out the front door and leaned her head back again. After five minutes she caved into her tiredness and went upstairs to bed.

* * *

"It's not her fault, she did what mom and dad told her to." Jeremy said, twirling the spoon in his chocolate ice cream. When Jeremy had come home from the party, he'd suggested he and Elena should go out for some ice cream, and although the hour was late, she couldn't decline his offer. Elena was still angry at Jenna but Jeremy was trying to get her to see the light.

"Not only did our parents die, but her sister died. I would keep my promise if I were Jenna too." Jeremy stated, and Elena licked her spoon clean.

"I guess." She sighed, delving more into her cookie dough ice cream. The shop was quiet and few people were out in the dark but Elena always loved sitting by the large window of Baskin Robins so that she could analyze the people as they walked by.

His dark hair looked even darker now as she spotted him from far away. He was walking against the wind, she could tell from the way his hair was blowing. He looked up at that moment and his entire face lit up. Seeing her made him crazy. Jeremy finally followed her gaze to Damon, then stood up and stared down his sister.

"I'll see you at home." He said, before exiting the door, holding it open for her as she moved towards Damon. His smile was wide but she could tell it didn't reach his eyes.

"Hi." She said, standing in front of him, her spoon drawing designs at the bottom of the cup in nervousness.

"Hi." He didn't stop smiling, even when she turned to throw out what she was holding in the near by garbage. They fell into step beside each other, continuing to walk in the direction Damon was heading. They were quiet but she knew he was watching her.

"Thank you." She said, analyzing Damon's confused look. "For not asking how I'm doing." She finished and he nodded and gave a small smile. "What's with the walking?" She asked after moments of silence.

"I'm clearing my head." Damon replied and she knew it was true because he had that distant look in his eyes.

"You probably want to do that alone." She said, slowing to a stop beside him.

"No." He instantly reached for her hand, lacing his fingers through hers. She looked down at their intertwined fingers, then back up to his grey-looking eyes. "Stay." He whispered.

Elena started walking again, leaning into his shoulder, their hands still fused together.

* * *

"Ooh, where are we going?" Katherine asked the next morning, trotting in from her morning jog. She studied the bags that Damon was carrying down the stairs.

"_You_," Damon stressed, "are going to the bed and breakfast twenty minutes into town." He stated, placing her bags down on the floor to study her face. Sweat dripped down her forehead and her hairr was tied in a high ponytail. She was barely wearing any make up, which he thought was a good look for her. Her shorts were loose, and her tank top was tight. Katherine's face fell. "Look, Katherine, last night made me really exactly what I wanted. I have my priorities straight so I don't want you around anymore, at all." She was hurt; he could see it in her eyes.

"That's a little harsh, don't you think?" She asked. "What happened to the Damon that was in love with me?"

"I still love you Katherine, I always will, but it's just not enough."

"Not as much as Elena." Katherine stated and Damon gave a shrug, picking up her bags again to carry them outside to his car.

"Life's a bitch." He said and then stopped, making a face that looked like he was thinking hard about something. "Wait, you're the bitch, life's just complicated."

"Why are you kicking me out now? After all this time I've been hanging around here, why now?" Katherine asked, leaning against the car door as he loaded her bags into the back seat.

"Why are you trying to get me back now? After all this time?"

"Touché." Katherine smirked, getting into the passengers seat.

* * *

Caroline swept her blond hair behind her shoulder and looked over at Elena seriously.

"Okay, so I know things have been super rocky between us lately but I think we should get over our differences and be friends again." She gave a dazed sort of smile and tilted her head at the brunette.

"Caroline, you've been the one sabotaging me since I got back." Elena stated, her glance narrowing at Bonnie who put her hands up in surrender and looked the other way.

"Well, obviously, you stole my boyfriend. But that's beside the point. You and I have a history, and that means something to me. You've been my best friend since grade one, both of you have, and I think it would suck to lose that." Caroline rushed, giving Elena the idea that Caroline just needed something to occupy her time with.

"You told my boyfriend that I made out with another guy, Care." Elena pointed out, leaning forward a little.

"I was just looking out for Damon." Caroline shrugged with a blank look in her eyes. Elena sighed but gave in.

"Fine Caroline, but if you do one more thing to mess us up, we're on the outs for good." Bonnie gave a small smile at that, then stood and moved into the Gilbert kitchen.

"Where's Jenna?" She asked, searching the fridge.

"She's at Alaric's," Elena and Caroline joined the girl. "She's been avoiding me. I guess I deserve it, I was such a bitch to her about the whole adoption thing."

"You were angry, it's reasonable. I would be too." It was so like Caroline to turn something around and make it about her.

Elena gave a shrug and joined Bonnie in looking for food.

"Can we order pizza? I don't care about gaining a pound; pizza sounds so good right now." Caroline asked, and the two turned to look at her like she was a genius.

"Good idea." Elena searched for the phone to call. When the pizza finally arrived, the three sat down in the living room to talk. It felt like old times. Elena had missed her best friends. Caroline, the unreliable hilarious character and Bonnie, the one you can tell anything to.

"So, how are things with Jeremy?" Caroline asked, leaning in to playfully nudge Bonnie.

"Really good, actually. I told him I love him the other day." Elena rose an eyebrow and smiled. "He said it back. We're like inseparable, I'm so happy with him." Bonnie said, then gave Elena a pointed look.

"And how are you and Damon?" Elena sighed and gave a small smile.

"I tried to resist but he's just so…" Elena trailed off. "I don't know the word. I mean like, the other day, he was walking through town square and he looked up and saw me and we just started walking together. He told me he was clearing his head so I said I'd leave him alone but he grabbed my hand and told me to stay. Then we just walked around holding hands for a half hour until we got to my house." Elena smiled at the fond memory. Damon was so sweet; there was something about him in that moment that made him so vulnerable.

"So do you think you'll get back together soon?" Caroline asked and Elena nodded slowly.

"Yeah. I think so."

* * *

"Who are you?" Stefan asked, immediately stunned when he walked into the Salvatore Boarding house to find Damon cleaning. Everything. "And what have you done with my brother?"

"I'm making the most romanticist… is that a word? It doesn't sound right…" Damon's mind wandered and then he remembered what he was saying. "I'm making the house look romantic so I can woo Elena into taking me back." Damon finished.

"Woo as in… woo? Because I don't want to be anywhere near here for make up sex." Stefan complained and Damon rolled his eyes, continuing to clean the windows.

"Actually, that's not my goal, but we'll see. Don't come home tomorrow night. Have a sleepover with like… Katherine or something… I don't want you ruining anything I have planned." Damon said, applying more Windex.

"Now, brother. When have I ever ruined anything with you and Elena?" Stefan asked.

"The first day you came home was the first time we had sex. And you ruined our morning with your impeccable timing." Damon raised his eyebrows at the younger boy.

"I saved you from the awkward morning thing." Stefan replied, touching the table to attempt to collect dust, but it was clean, and he rolled his eyes.

"It's never been awkward with her." Damon said, moving to clean the bookshelf. "Any who, want to help me clean the rest of the house?"

"Can't you like, contain her into one room?" Stefan asked.

"She's not a dog, Stefan. Now get your ass moving. I want everything clean before tomorrow afternoon." Damon said, throwing a wet cloth at Stefan who flinched when it hit the side of his face. He looked at it questioningly until Damon gave him a pointed stare. "Or I can't just contain her to your room. It's already clean."

That got Stefan to help.

* * *

"So you're actually going on a date with him?" Bonnie asked, finishing off the last piece of pizza and handing Caroline the crust, like she'd been doing with all her pieces.

"It's not a date exactly. I'm just going over to his house to hang out with him." Elena stated, watching Caroline go into Bonnie's bag to retrieve her manicure kit. She set it up neatly and looked up at Elena.

"Is dinner involved?" She asked, her blue eyes expectant. Elena sighed dramatically and tossed the pizza box in the recycling bin in the kitchen and returned to sit on the floor and Caroline started on her nails.

"Maybe."

"Don't have sex with him." Bonnie said quickly, causing both girls to turn to look at her. "What? You know he's going to try it, it's Damon, his life revolves around sex." She had a point, but Caroline contradicted this.

"No." she said plainly, and there didn't seem to be a hint of sarcasm or bitterness or anything really, in her voice. "It revolves around Elena." She finished.

"And what about Tyler?" Bonnie asked, turning her glare to Caroline. "What's with you two, it's kind of weird."

"It is. I know he doesn't like me that much, but I like him a lot." Caroline said and Bonnie laughed lightly.

"I'm sure that's not true." Elena replied, watching Caroline place a first coat on the brunette's nails. It was awkward; this conversation had turned completely awkward once Damon and Tyler got involved.

"Of course it is. We all know he's still hung up on you." Caroline said bluntly, like it was nothing. "But, I have my eyes on someone else, Tyler's a drag."

"Really?" Bonnie leaned in intently, and all of the girls had mischievous smiles on their faces. "Who is it, Care?" She asked. Caroline took out the bright red nail polish and began to paint Elena's nails carefully.

"Stefan Salvatore."

* * *

Klaus looked up at the guard of the small temporary prison who stood in front of him, shadowing the boy's view. "You have a visitor." He said in a dark tone, and Klaus shrugged, standing up in front of the dark-skinned man.

"I guess I have a lot of those." Klaus said, working his way pass the gates to the little room that separated him from the outside world by a glass wall. As soon as his eyes fell on the brunette sitting uncomfortably in the metal chair he gave a smile. She looked up as he sat down, their eyes locking briefly until he picked up the phone and she followed suit.

"Miss. Katherine." Klaus greeted with a charming smile but Katherine didn't smile back.

"Have you missed me, Klaus?" She asked, tilting her head to the side, letting her dark locks spill over her left shoulder.

"I always do." He stated matter-of-factly. "Why are you here? Aren't you running off to your pathetic Salvatores?" He asked his gaze intense.

"They don't want anything to do with me." Katherine shrugged, her eyes rolling.

"So why would you come here?" Klaus asked, well aware of their stellar history. He tried to rape her, why would she ever want to see him again? The slim girl gave another shrug and he squinted his eyes.

"Is it that you love getting yourself into messes? That's all you've been doing, why stop now?" Klaus gave a sarcastic smirk which Katherine returned.

"I'm here to talk some sense into you. I don't do things for people often, but the man I love is hurting because the girl he loves is hurting, and I can't have that. You remember Elena Gilbert, don't you?" Katherine gave a cold smile and Klaus cocked an eyebrow. "Guess you do. Well, she's dating Damon Salvatore and her life's a complete mess right now, so I'm being nice and trying to be good."

"Why? You only do things for yourself." Klaus leaned in close to the glass.

"Stefan suggested I try the whole 'redeemable' thing, maybe that'll get Damon to notice me again. That boy is so pathetic, just falls for everyone." Katherine shook her head but couldn't shake away her small smile.

"Then why did you fall for him?" Klaus said stiffly.

"Because he's nothing like you. He cares, and he's kind and despite what he thinks, he's a softy." Katherine said, leaning into the glass as well.

"Soft is pathetic, Katherine. You should know that by now. You know, I liked you better when you were all mean and selfish. Nice doesn't suit you." Klaus said, staring at her intently. Although Katherine was slightly apprehensive about seeing Klaus, she hid it all pretty well. Klaus didn't even suspect she was nervous.

"What I'm getting at, is I think you should request to be taken back sooner. The sheriff told me they're bringing you to a different institute, a more severe one that's very strict on who gets out." Katherine smiled. "With you gone, everyone's lives will be better."

"And why would I want that?" Klaus asked.

"Because you love me." Katherine smirked. Klaus leaned in really close, closer than he was before and shook his head.

"I would never want that girl happy."

"I've never seen your parents visit you, why do you even care that they're dead?" Katherine was curious.

"They were never there when you were. They came every Sunday morning to see how I was. Never missed a Sunday. I suppose Elena always thought her parents were going off to church, turns out they were visiting her mental brother."

"You're not mental, Klaus. You just convince yourself that you are. I bet if you started acting like a normal human being should, your mental problems would disappear." Katherine said, debating hanging up the phone.

"And if you stopped loving, your problems would too." Klaus said, watching as Katherine gave a cold smirk then placed the phone back on the hook and stood. Klaus waved pleasantly and she turned and knocked on the door for the guard to unlock it.

* * *

Elena looked over at Caroline. "Stefan?" she asked.

"Why not?" Caroline looked confused. "That's not a problem, is it? I mean, you can't have them both, Elena."

"No, I mean- It's fine, Caroline, Stefan's a really nice guy." Elena said. Caroline didn't notice, so she smiled. Her phone buzzed and she smiled at the text. "That's him now. He wants to know if I want to go to the movies tomorrow night."

"Don't you think you should talk to Tyler first?" Bonnie asked, looking over at Elena, who was watching Caroline put down her phone and continue with painting Elena's nails.

"I will." Caroline said, "So back to Damon..." She asked.

"Uhh." Bonnie stated.

"Can we talk about something else?" Elena stated, looking down.

"Elena, you have to play hard to get." Caroline chided and Elena rolled her eyes and shook her head, smiling at the blonde.

"But i already agreed to go over to his place." Elena said.

"Then don't have sex with him." Bonnie supplied, and Elena turned to look at her. "I mean, if you can't play hard to get, make him work for your lovin'." Bonnie laughed, followed by Caroline and Elena.

"His birthday's in like, a week." Caroline stated, after she stopped laughing. "If you can wait 'til then, he'll be crazy for you." She said, smiling at the idea.

"You know what Caroline?" Elena asked, about to say something but Caroline cut in nervously.

"You don't like the color?" She looked down at the nails she was working on. "I knew I should have done blue!" She sighed and Elena laughed.

"No, I love the color. I was just going to say that it's a good idea." Elena finished and Bonnie smiled.

"Oh, I totally know." Caroline laughed.

* * *

When Damon and Stefan had finally collapsed on the couch the next afternoon, Damon's phone started to vibrate. He took it out of his pocket and answered it without even looking at the Caller ID.

"Hello?"

"Damon, hey." Sheriff Forbes greeted and he gave a sigh.

"Hey, how is everything going with Klaus? I'm sorry I couldn't stay and talk to you after we met him, Elena was really upset so I had to take her home." Damon said.

"No that's okay. I was just calling to tell you Klaus is in the process of being transported to an institution two hours away from town. It's high security so there's no chance of him getting out. I just think this may be closure for Elena, so she knows that she's safe." Liz said, and Damon could tell her mind was elsewhere.

"I'm sure she'll be glad. Thank you, Sheriff." Damon said, hanging up. Stefan looked over at him tiredly.

"What's that?"

"Klaus is locked up and he's not getting out again." Damon said, standing to stretch out his legs. "Anyways, thanks for helping, now leave." He commanded.

"Damon's it's 3:00." Stefan argued, but Damon raised his eyebrows. He groaned then turned towards the door.

"Best brother ever!" Damon called after him sarcastically, listening to the door shut dramatically.

* * *

**So, I was reading a comment from Eighp and they had a really good point about how Damon and Stefan were being sort of push overs when it came to Katherine and they should have kicked her out and everything and it really made me think about everything. Why didn't they kick her out? Why is Katherine afraid of Klaus? What can I do to make the plot more interesting? And this is what i came up with. I hope this better explains Damon and Katherine's reasons for what they do. Damon didn't kick Katherine out because a part of him is still in love with her, the same with Stefan. And Katherine genuinely is in love with Damon, but she's back in town to hide from Klaus (her super creepy stalker), little did she know he had connections to the town and it would be easy to find her. I hope this clears some things up. No ones a vampire; this is all human. Reviews do help, so please leave one! Thankyou.**


	22. Dates

**What is life, when wanting love? Night without a morning; love's the cloudless summer sun, nature gay adorning.**

**- ****Robert Burton**

Her hands raked though her hair nervously as she stepped onto the front porch of the Salvatore boarding house. She hadn't ever felt this nervous to see Damon. She knocked on the door twice then let her hand fall back to her side.

"Come in!" She heard him yell, and she pushed open the door hesitantly to be hit with the aroma of food. She smiled as she wandered through the house towards the kitchen, where she knew he'd be. He had his back facing her, but her mind raced back to the first time they slept together. The next morning he'd cooked her pancakes and she felt a sort of déjà vu watching him now. He turned to look at her and a large smile crept up his face.

Elena's hair was wavy and messy in a perfect sort of way. She wore a darker red lipstick and light boyfriend jeans with a simple white long sleeved shirt.

"Hi." He said, immediately stunned at her beauty for some strange reason. He'd always known she was gorgeous, but not being able to have her and touch her and be alone with her for this long made him realized exactly how beautiful she was.

"Hey." She stumbled over to the opposite side of the stove and grabbed a bar stool to sit and watch him.

"I'm making your favorite." He stated, stirring something in the pan rapidly. "Chicken Parmesan with gnocchi." He added, lifting a lid off a different pan to show her the chicken. She gave a soft smile.

"You know, I would have settled for pizza, you didn't have to make me dinner." Elena murmured softly, looking up at him with bright eyes.

"I wanted to." He said, finishing stirring and then moving to grab two plates and two glasses. He filled them both with red wine, and they got their food, moving to sit in the dining room which was dimly lit.

They carried out casual small talk through out dinner until Damon removed their plates. Elena sipped her wine until he returned, ushering her to the parlor where they sat in front of the roaring fire.

"I want to get something out." He said, turning his body to face hers. She pulled her gaze away from the fire to meet his icy eyes.

"Okay…" She said slowly.

"I love you more than I love anyone in this world. I love you more than I ever loved Katherine." His lip pouted slightly as he looked down at her doe eyes. "And I know you were worried about that, and I hadn't really realized it until I realized I was missing you. I'm not saying this because I want to get in your pants, I'm saying this because it was stupid to fall back to Katherine when you were angry with me and I know that. There are no lies or excuses that I can tell you for why I kissed her. And everything-" He stopped to try and find his words. "Losing you showed me that I don't want her, since meeting you, it's always been you." He stopped to take a breath and she didn't say anything.

Her face was blank and her eyes were watching him intently. She didn't know what to say. What did you say to someone who tells you that you're their entire life? That you mean that much to them. Nothing, which is exactly what she said.

She leaned in slowly, her forehead touching his for a few seconds until his hands grasped her face and her lips touched his ever so slightly. An electric shock ran through her body and she leaned in closer, one hand falling to his chest, the other playing with the fine hair on the back of his neck. He pulled away slowly to look at her face, to search her eyes for a hint of anything. That's when she removed his hands and placed them back in his lap, turning her body back to analyze the fire. His eyes never left her. Watching her eyes flutter open and closed, watching her perfectly plump lips rub red against each other. When she turned back to look at him she gave a shy smile, bringing her thumb to his lips to remove her lipstick from him. He smiled affectionately and bit her thumb lightly when it fiddled with his bottom lip.

Elena was almost in his lap now, and her hand fell from his face to his knee, where she looked down to, rubbing strange patterns on his dark jeans. All of her movements were so chaste and innocent that he brought her face up to look at his with two of his fingers.

"I never know how you feel. Tell me how you feel." He said, studying her face and biting his lip.

"I just did." She whispered, placing a hand on one of his cheeks and rubbing the pads of her fingers against the soft, pale skin there.

"Words." He said, drinking in the adoring look in her eyes.

"I never loved Matt Donovan, or your brother or Tyler Lockwood." She stated simply. "I'm seventeen years old and I don't quite know what love is. What love means. I've told you this before. I more than just like or adore, or enjoy being with you. Those seem like understatements. So I figured that's what love is. Love is me and you." She said, and it sounded sort of childish. Everything she was saying and doing felt childish and naïve, but he could see the strip of lust jolt through her eyes.

"Just say it." She shuffled in his lap so that she was kneeling on the couch between his legs. Both of her hands were on either side of his beautiful face. She looked down at him with her dark brown eyes and gave a slight smile.

"Damon Salvatore, I am in love with you." She whispered, rubbing circles on his cheeks. He smiled and leaned forward to playfully bite the skin just below her neck and she giggled innocently.

"Spend the night." He requested, looking up at her.

"No." She muttered bluntly. "I'm not that easy, Damon." She raised one eyebrow playfully.

"Come on…" He argued.

"I'm serious Damon. I want to take this slow." Elena said, sitting on the back of her legs so that she was at level with him.

"What's with you and your no sex rules?" He asked annoyingly. "Do you torture all your boyfriends like this?" Damon kissed the corner of her lips sweetly.

"Only the really bad ones." She smiled, and he gasped, playfully tackling her backwards onto the floor in front of the fire. He looked down at her with scolding eyes, pinning her hands on either side of her face.

"Take that back." He said in mock anger.

"I refuse!" She screamed and he leaned in to bit the skin on her neck. She kept repeating the phrase and he kept biting her softly, careful not to actually hurt her. Damon didn't need sex. Right now, he was in heaven.

* * *

The movie was awful. Caroline had regretted picking it, a really bad chick flick that tried to incorporate comedy and drag racing. Just awful. When she and Stefan left the theatre he pulled her in to link arms with her. They walked silently to the coffee shop across the street, where they both ordered what they wanted and Stefan insisted on paying. Caroline hadn't been treated this nicely since… No, not even his brother had been nice to her. Damon was only nice to her when he wanted something. Mostly just sex.

"So, why'd you decide to finally call me up?" Caroline asked with a sly smile, taking a seat across from Stefan.

"I don't know." Stefan shrugged but when she gave him a look he expanded. "Damon kicked me out of the house for his date with Elena so I figured I'd finally ask you out. I have to admit, I kind of had a crush on you when you were dating my brother." Stefan laughed nervously.

"Really?" Caroline asked amused, looking into his dark green eyes.

* * *

"Jeremy stop it!" Bonnie cried underneath his body. She erupted into a fit of giggles when he began to tickle her to death. She shook and squirmed under him, attempting to push him off but the effort was futile. He didn't budge.

"Jeremy!" She squealed, finally crawling out from under him to tackle him back on the bed. Bonnie was thankful for the great relationship she and Jeremy had. They loved each other, she was certain of that, and watching Elena's bumpy relationship with Damon was sort of a wake up call. Two people who loved each other so much could go through so much pain and still be in love. She had no concerns about Jeremy now. He was awake and healthy and she was so thankful for that.

"Ow, Bonnie! No hitting." He flinched from her minor aggression and chuckled. He let the dark skinned girl gain the advantage but he'd never tell her that he did this all the time when they were wrestling or chasing each other around the house. She finally got tired and collapsed next to him, pressing a sweet kiss to his shoulder.

"I love you." She said quietly. He turned his face to look at her and smile.

"I love you too."

* * *

"So what now?" Elena had been trapped under Damon's hold for a few minutes now, being attacked by tickles and bites and kisses. His face was slightly serious but she could see the playfulness in his eyes.

"What do you mean?" She asked, looking up at him curiously. Her arms were still above her head although his hands were no longer pinning them there. He straddled her waist lightly his hands playing with the material of her shirt on her stomach.

"What are we? What is this?" He asked, placing both hands flat on the floor beside her tiny body. She couldn't do anything put lie there, trapped by the confines of his toned body.

"We're back to normal. Back to Damon and Elena." She smiled, moving her arms to grip the back of his neck and pull him down to her so that their foreheads rested against each other.

"I can't pretend that I don't want to be near you again. I can't fight anything anymore. I love you, and I want to be with you." Elena whispered, and his lips descended on hers slowly. His body met hers, perfectly shaped for each other. He moved against her, settling to where his forearms were placed beside her face and his legs rested on the outside of her small body. Her hands were tangled in his hair, her lips fused to his passionately. It wasn't just a whisper of a kiss anymore; it was his lips pressing hard against his, his tongue tasting her lipstick.

She was perfect in everyway. There wasn't one thing he didn't love about her. The way her groans were lost in his mouth, the way her hands in his hair sent a shiver down his spine. The affects of her body moving slowly against his, and although they were both fully clothed, the fact that they felt so close, like nothing was separating them. He wanted this forever. He wanted her forever. This was so simple to him. He loved her, she loved him. At the moment, his mind was so lost that that was all he could think. Her lips were toxic, the smell of her lavender body wash and the vanilla fragrance that was tangled in her hair made him weak. He pulled back from her lips reluctantly so that he could stare at her. Her swollen red lips and flushed cheeks. The way she smiled up at him, her hair a complete mess, the way she brought her hands to wipe away all of her lipstick off his lips once again. She was perfect. Elena brought her arm up to wipe away her own lipstick then moved to bring his face back to hers.

"Now can you spend the night?" He whispered against her lips and she let out a giggle.

"Nope."

* * *

**Thankyou for everyone that reviewed. I've been reading them and they all made me smile. I seriously doubt my writing skills sometimes while reading other fics and then I read your comments and they make me happy. This was a bit of a filler chapter. Showing all of the couples together and interacting a little, and I know it's short but the chapters will get back to their normal length soon. About the bet, don't worry, no one forgot. ****&& Elena's birthday was in chapter 17. **


	23. Barbie Doll

"**The past cannot be changed. The future is yet in your power."**

– **Mary Pickford**

"You have to be the most beautiful creature I've ever seen." The blond haired boy flirted, casually leaning against the bar beside her. The Grill had been quiet but Elena could still hear the consistent buzzing of people talking around her. She'd been waiting for Caroline to meet up for coffee and discuss their dates from a few nights ago since Bonnie was out of town for the day with her Grams.

"You must be new to town." Elena commented, sipping her cranberry juice and soda water. The fairly good looking man gave a short smile of confusion. He was probably buzzed from the scotch he was sipping, that's why he was being so forward. Caroline strolled in then, taking the seat on the opposite side of the man who was talking to Elena. She raised an eyebrow and ordered a glass of water, giving the man an annoyed look.

"And how do you know that?" He asked, leaning towards her suggestively.

"Because everyone who lives in town knows not to be stupid enough to hit on Damon Salvatore's girlfriend." Caroline said, drinking in the water and giving the blond man a dark smirk. She made it sound so dangerous. And maybe it was, Damon would beat anyone who touched his girl to a pulp.

"I don't scare easily, blondie. Sorry to disappoint." He shrugged leaning in the slightest bit. Elena gave a smile, as did Caroline as they looked behind the man.

"Hello ladies." Damon said, moving to stand between the two girls, his arm wrapping around Elena's waist, his lips pressing a kiss to Elena's bare shoulder. Damon looked up at the man possessively, feeling Elena lean back onto his chest. Caroline gave a short laugh and the man's smile faltered.

"I'm guessing you're Damon." He gave a half shrug and Damon smiled.

"Hey, I'm famous." He said excitedly with sarcasm, nuzzling his nose into Elena's neck, to which she giggled.

"Leave." Elena said, looking back to the man, who looked reluctant, but rolled his eyes and turned to leave.

"Now that is the fourth time I've had to ward off some perverted guy from hitting on you." Damon said, turning Elena's barstool to face him.

"Third, Sam wasn't hitting on me."

"Yeah, okay." Damon said, rolling his eyes.

"Alright Damon, you've had your fun intimidating the human race, now, if you'll be so kind we have girl things to talk about." Caroline said, nodding towards the door.

"Actually Barbie, I'm meeting Alaric here." Damon turned to look at Caroline who smirked.

"Well meet him elsewhere." She shooed him away, and Damon moved to stand between Elena's legs.

"As you wish." He threw back, leaning in to give Elena a sweet kiss. "Are you coming over tonight?" He asked, watching her doe eyes blink a couple times.

"No, come to my place. We're having couples movie night." She smiled insistently. Damon had an annoyed look on his face but he shrugged after she gave him a scolding look. He kissed her once more before turning and moving towards the back of the Grill to wait for Alaric.

"So I take it you're back together and as strong as ever." Caroline winked, rhyming off words. Elena shrugged and smiled at her friend.

"Yes, we're together. And I didn't have sex with him." She added, and Caroline clapped happily.

"Yay! Okay, so I totally have the best idea ever." Caroline started.

* * *

"So what movies are you making us watch?" Jeremy looked down at Caroline who was sitting on the floor next to Stefan. Her relationship with Stefan had progressed tremendously over the past week. They were casually dating now, and Caroline really liked Stefan and their new cute relationship.

"Please tell me it's not Gone with the Wind." Damon complained, sitting on the couch with his arm placed around Elena tiredly. Caroline had always made him and Elena watch Gone with the Wind with her every other week.

"No, it's not. The first one is The Departed, and then the second one is The Bucket List." Caroline read the covers of the movies as Bonnie sat down next to Jeremy and Stefan next to Caroline with bowls of popcorn. Elena snuggled into Damon's side and he pressed a kiss to her hair.

"Great, thank God she's out of her chick flick faze." Damon whispered into his girlfriend's ear and she giggled, her eyes looking to the TV screen which now had Matt Damon on it. Then Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Wahlberg. So that's why she picked this movie.

"Caroline, you little snake." Bonnie laughed; kicking Caroline's back playfully, listening to her friend laugh.

"Hey, if we're going to watch an action movie, there might as well be hot guys in it…" she got carried away, and Elena felt Damon's hand swirl around on her shoulder and tease the entire right side of her body. She almost giggled and looked at him, but his eyes were focused on the screen, a small smirk playing on his lips. Every time his fingers wandered away from her shoulder and edged to a more inappropriate for 'movie night' area.

"Hey." Elena warned quietly, shifting her body to whisper in his ear. Luckily, everyone was so absorbed in the movie to notice anything. "If you keep doing that you won't get any." Elena whispered, her fingers moving to draw his chin to look at her.

"I'm not getting any either way." Damon whispered back and she gave him a death stare. When he saw her serious face he groaned, moving his hands away from her body but keeping his arm around her shoulder as she re-adjusted herself into his side, turning her attention back to the movie. She flinched when someone got shot straight through the skull. Then another, and another. Caroline gasped, leaning closer to Stefan in surprise and Elena actually heard Damon laugh. At the most gory, bloody part of the movie, he laughs. She shook her head and watched as the last few minutes played and the credits began to roll.

Caroline stood proudly and made her way to change it to the next movie. Jeremy and Bonnie groaned, complaining about being tired and went upstairs to bed, so Caroline and Stefan upgraded to the couch.

"Caroline, I'm still questioning your taste in movies…" Damon said, as The Bucket List began.

"Oh shut up, Salvatore. It's a good movie." She spat, giving him a playful yet irritated look. Elena giggled quietly and he looked over at her with an eyebrow raised.

"What are you laughing at?" He asked, tickling her stomach so that she giggled even more.

"Shut up Salvatore." She laughed even harder when he tickled under her neck.

"Enough with the lovey dovey crap." Stefan looked over at them with that Stefan look. "Take it upstairs if you're not going to watch the movie."

"Fine." Damon pulled Elena off the couch and tugged her towards the stairs. "We will." He chased her up the stairs like she was a little kid again and she screamed and laughed until they finally reached her room and he tackled her onto the bed. He began to tickle her again and she could hear Jeremy throwing things against the wall to tell her to be quiet.

"Shhhh." She hushed Damon, rolling over so that she was straddling his waist, her straight hair tumbling down in front of her. She pushed it down and leaned down to press her lips to his. He lost it immediately, pulling her down more forcefully to close the distance between their bodies. His tongue swirled inside her mouth, causing her hands to knot in the material of his black v-neck.

"Baby, expensive shirt." He scolded, moving her hands away from the wrinkling fabric. Elena shook her head but raised an eyebrow.

"Then take it off." She said, helping him pull his shirt off, pressing sweet kisses across his chest.

"Gosh you're such a tease." He said when her lips whispered across his neck. "We're not having sex tonight, are we?" Damon asked, his blue eyes staring up at the ceiling as she harassed his neck.

"Nope. I was just thinking hard core make out." He raised his eyebrow at her and pulled her lips back to his, where they settled perfectly, moving against his in harmony.

* * *

"Okay, so I don't know what to get him." Stefan said, pacing in front of Elena at the Gilbert house. She sat on the couch, legs crossed, watching him walk back and forth debating on ideas. "I mean, I would get him a water gun but I'm pretty sure I got him one last year."

"You got your 25 year old brother a water gun?" Elena questioned, looking at the boy in front of her.

"He was turning 24." Stefan stated, as if it made such a difference.

"Okay, look. His birthday is today; maybe Caroline can take you out shopping at like Wal-Mart or something." Elena offered, but Stefan squinted his eyes at her.

"You think Damon would want something from Wal-Mart?" He asked, knowing his brother all too well.

"Then get him a leather jacket or something." Elena suggested, flipping through one of Jenna's home magazines on the tabl.e

"You know how Damon is. His leather jacket is his baby, he won't want a new one."

"How about Bourbon?"

"Great, the only problem is I'm seventeen. Can't really buy alcohol yet."

"How about I get Jenna to buy you some, give me the money and I'll get you the bourbon. Deal?" she asked.

"Elena, you are the greatest." He leaned over to hug her excitedly then drew back. "So what are you getting him?" He asked.

"Uh, you don't want to know." Elena said, getting up and leaving the room, Stefan trailing after her.

* * *

"Damon!" Alaric greeted. "Happy birthday, man." He said loudly. No one ever understood the strange bromance between Damon and Alaric but they kept each other sane, so why bother questioning it.

"Shh." Damon whispered. "They do those weird birthday cake things here." He said, sitting down at the bar next to him.

"You know, one day or another, people are going to notice that we come here and get drunk like, every day. We'll be called the town drunks for the rest of our lives."

"Gah, who gives a shit? We are the town drunks." Damon clinked his glass against Ric's with a mischievous smile.

"So, where's your girl?" Ric asked.

"Um, making a diabolical plan with my brother, I think. I heard him talking to her on the phone this morning so, God knows what they're doing." Damon shrugged and turned to watch Caroline bounce over to them. "Hey blondie." Damon greeted and Caroline gave a smirk.

"Hey, Damon." She turned her head sideways to grin. "Happy birthday. I totally have a surprise for you." She said, turning to watch a cake come out of the kitchen with sparklers and singing Mystic Grill workers.

Damon threw Caroline an evil glare. "Oh it's on, Barbie doll." He said, looking down at the cake placed in front of him in horror.

* * *

"Stefan?" He called, entering the Salvatore boarding house late that night. He hadn't seen Stefan or Elena the entire day and he was starting to worry that something was wrong. Then he started to worry they were having an affair, before he realized Elena only loved him. Then Damon was proud. Alaric and Caroline had kept him occupied long enough, now he was going to look for them. "Elena?" He asked.

He made his way up the stairs to his room. There was a box outside of his door, and he looked down at it, picking it up in his hands and shaking it. When he heard the liquid he gave a smile. The card said Stefan on it, and he opened his door, setting it down on the dresser. Then he realized something was weird. Candles illuminated the room, scattered everywhere. He turned around slowly to meet Elena's gaze then stopped and his mouth fell open. The keys he was holding hit the ground with a jingling sound and he had to blink a couple times to see if this was real.

Elena sat on the edge of his bed, her hair curly and perfectly bouncy, her brown eyes hazed over with lust. She was wearing leather. Leather booty shorts and a leather bra that showed exactly how beautiful her body is. Elena had found the courage to wear Caroline's birthday gift.

"You'll catch flies." She said, nodding at his open mouth.

"You look…" Damon trailed off staring at her as she got up from the bed. Her long legs immediately caught his eyes, and then they trailed easily up to her chest, then lips, then eyes. She moved towards him slowly. "You look… so hot." Those words didn't even begin to describe Elena Gilbert. She gave a smirk when she was finally in reach of him. His hands came out to touch her leather bra, then trail down to her panties.

"Happy birthday." She whispered, her hand reaching out to touch him as he touched her. It trailed over his leather jacket to stop on his chest just above his heart. "I hope this isn't some corny, cheap, predictable girlfriend present. At least you can't re-gift me." She raised an eyebrow and smiled, looking down at the ground. He put two of his fingers under her chin and lifted her face back to him. Just her gaze was making his need for her more and more painful. His hands roughly pulled her body against his and she flinched into his chest, then settled against him easily.

"Don't tell Stefan, but this is better than the water gun he got me last year. This is better than anything anyone's ever got me." He said, and she smiled, leaning forward to press kisses against his neck. He immediately tensed up at her lips on his body, but he relaxed when she began unbuttoning his shirt. "You know you're the most beautiful thing in the world, right?" He asked, moving his hands to rest on her bottom, which he squeezed playfully.

She laughed, pushing him back up against the wall so she could kiss him forcefully. Her lips stung his in a passionate kiss. She'd managed to pull off his jacket and his shirt, but now, she had one knee against the wall, trapping him there. But it's not like he'd wanted to move. She was kissing him hard biting his bottom lip. Her tongue was fighting for dominance with his and her hands were gripping the back of his neck and playing with the fine hairs there.

"I love you." She whispered against his lips, then gathered his lower lip into her mouth to suck on. He had his eyes closed but the image of her in that lingerie felt like it was burned into his mind. Thank God he'd see her later, when she wasn't around. He ground his hips against hers and changed positions with her so now she was pressed up against the wall and he was devouring her neck and chest. He lifted her easily so that her legs were wrapped around his waist and she was looking down at him with those beautiful doe eyes. She ground against him eagerly, kissing every inch of his face. He moved backwards slowly so that the back of his knees touched the edge of his bed. Then, with a little push, he fell backwards and she landed on top of him, pressing her lips against his muscled chest. He was pretty sure he had touched every inch of her body, and now she was working her hands towards his jeans. She undid the zipper and he kicked his pants off his legs, eager for more skin on skin contact. He flipped them over again so that e could lie on top of her. She was basically trapped under his body.

"You're perfect." He whispered against her stomach as he licked, kissed and bit her flat abs. Soon, his boxers had joined the pile of his clothing on the floor, and the only think standing in between him and what he wanted were the leather panties and bra she was wearing. He wanted her to wear this all the time. She looked so sexy that he couldn't think properly. But when he wouldn't make the move to remove the rest of her clothing, she did it herself, removing her bra first, then panties. He stared at her beautiful body before attacking her lips with his once again.

* * *

She rolled off of him panting and laughing.

"That. Was amazing." She said, turning to look at him, her face flushed with that after-sex glow.

"Which time?" He asked, nibbling on her fingertips with a smirk on his face. She laughed and cuddled into him so that he was spooning her. He nibbled on her shoulder and she kissed the hands that came around her. "Yep," He commented, sighing into her skin. "Definitely better than the water gun."

"Mr. Salvatore," She said in a playfully worrisome tone, moving out of his arms. "I refuse to be compared to a water gun." She murmured, pushing against his chest so that he was lying on his back and she was straddling his hips.

"You're right." Damon shrugged against the bed. "You're better than the action figure he got me when I was eleven." He said, moving his hands to tickle her, and soon, she fell off of him and he was hovering over her kissing and biting her neck. She giggled childishly trying to get away from his hands.

"What are you doing?" She laughed. "Stop it." Elena struggled against him trying to escape the tickling. Te only reason Damon loved tickling her was to hear the beautiful chiming of her laughs and watch her smile.

"Make me." He smiled, nipping her again, only to hear her scream. He kept tickling and she kept screaming until he silenced her with a kiss. They were both so absorbed in it that he forgot about the tickling and his hands grazed her sides.

"Oh my god, not again." She smiled, closing her eyes and leaning her head up so that he had better access to her neck. He no longer bit, but sucked and kissed the sensitive flesh there. "Baby, I want to be able to walk." She said, her nails digging into his muscled back.

"I'll carry you." He begged. "Come on, we haven't had sex in two weeks and you want to stop now?"

"We already did it like, four times." She argued, though her body was moving to accommodate his.

"Five." He corrected. "But that's still a million times not enough."

"You are very needy. I hope we're not going to be those couples who have sex everywhere all the time."

Damon laughed and she figured he was thinking of a fond memory.

"Do you remember that time we did it in the bathroom at Bonnie's house?"

"Yes, that was painful. I had tile marks on my back for like, a week."

"But don't you remember how fun it was? You have to admit, sneaking around made it even hotter than it already was." Damon moaned against her skin when her nails raked against his back.

"Yes, it was… incredibly hot."

"Then let's do it again. Minus the, me having a girlfriend and you having a boyfriend thing."

"You want to have sex in Bonnie's bathroom again?" She asked as he disappeared under the blanket to kiss her belly button. She pulled the sheet off his head so she could look at him.

"Not particularly her bathroom."

"Oh, this is going to be bad." She said when he moved back up her body.

"Not at all," He contradicted. "This is going to be so fun."

* * *

**Hello again. Sorry about being MIA for the past two weeks, school has been so busy this past month. I've had all these assignments due and I've been running around trying to find things for graduation. It's just a mess. After I finish m****y grad assignment due next week, and school's nearly over, I'll have chapters up more quickly. Don't expect many more chapters after this one; I'm getting kind of bored of the story. Do not fear, I have maaaaaaaany ideas for my next couple of stories so keep a watch for any new stories of mine. **

**Okay, this was a sort of filler chapter again I guess. Next chapter we'll get a little Katherine again I hope, and Damon and Elena take a couple more steps in their relationship. AND CAROL LOCKWOOD HAS ANOTHER FREAKING PARTY. I love how she has like, parties every chapter. Best. Character. Ever. Seriously, if they kill Carol off of the show I'll be severely pissed. (I'm joking, she's a bitch.) Anyways, read and review and I'll love you forever. **


	24. Apologies

**A life without love is like a year without summer. **

** - Swedish Proverb**

The weekend had been pretty dull so far. Aunt Jenna had decided another family day was in order, meaning no Alaric, no Bonnie and no Damon. The three had already had a big breakfast, reminisced on the couch and were now sitting at the Grill eating lunch. Elena never knew how much she actually missed being around her brother and aunt. They had never had much alone time since the beginning of summer due to all the drama going on. Elena's eyes flickered up to the bar when Jenna began asking Jeremy about his drawings. They fell on Damon, sitting there all alone with nothing but a scotch in his hand. He was watching her and she could tell he'd been doing it for a while because he was casually leaning against the counter with his elbows and his chair was angled towards her. Damon gave a short smirk when their eyes met and she shook her head unnoticeably. She turned her gaze back to Jeremy who was talking about joining some art classes when fall came around again. Which was soon. Elena hadn't even noticed that all that time had gone by. It was mid August, meaning she had three weeks left of summer, give or take.

She saw Damon turn his chair back around in annoyance and order another glass.

"What about you, Elena? I know you're a good writer, maybe you should take something for it. A class maybe?" Jenna gazed over at her niece questioningly.

"Uh, yeah. That sounds like fun." Elena smiled, eyeing the fries on her plate. She pushed them over to Jeremy, who, like a champ, accepted them after eating his burger and extra large fries. "I think I've got ketchup on my hands, I'm going to go to the bathroom and wash it off." She muttered, picking at her finger and standing from the booth. Jenna and Jeremy both nodded, and Elena made her way to the bathroom that had the girls sign on it. She was pushed roughly against the wall before she could open the door.

"Jesus, where'd you come from? I swear, you're like everywhere." Elena placed a hand over her heart in attempt to slow its pace.

"I know its family night and whatever but I'm really bored. Alaric's been soul searching all weekend and I can only think of so many ways to ruin Caroline's life." Damon said, gripping her waist lightly and running his hands up and down her sides comfortably.

"Damon, Alaric's at a funeral for his grandmother."

"Well, yes, but she should have died a long time ago. Her untimely death is very inconsiderate." Damon's blue eyes fluttered at her and she sighed.

"Then hang out with Stefan." Elena stated.

"Gah, but Stefan's so dull and moody." He complained, moving his hands to cup her face. "Hey, babe, remember that whole sex in strange places thing?" Damon asked and she shook her head shortly.

"No, Damon, my brother and Aunt are obviously going to notice I'm gone."

"Then, I'll make it quick." He argued, but Elena shook her head.

"Why don't you sneak into my room tonight like you're a high school kid again? We can even have sex then, but you'll have to be quiet." Elena suggested, and Damon's face lit up, but a grin fell onto his lips.

"Hey, I'm not the loud one." Damon leaned in to press his lips to hers briefly. "See you at midnight." He turned and left her.

Elena now didn't have the time to wash her hands, so she turned back and joined Jenna and Jeremy at the booth with a smile.

"All clean." And the conversation started up again.

* * *

"Caroline, I'm flattered but I'd rather not practice kissing with you." Bonnie placed her hands in front of her body, palms up to protest Caroline's request.

"Oh come on, Bonnie. You just have to tell me if I'm good or not." Caroline leaned in but Bonnie pressed a hand against Caroline's face, making Caroline fall back on her bed. Bonnie laughed and shook her head.

"Caroline, I'm not kissing you."

"Ugh, fine. Maybe Elena will help." Caroline's mind wandered off and Bonnie laughed again.

"I doubt she will. Why are you so worried about kissing Stefan anyway? Haven't you done it before?" The dark skinned girl stood to go sort through Caroline's candy stash on her desk. She pulled out a chocolate and popped it in her mouth.

"I don't know, he won't make out with me and I'm kind thinking I lost my mojo." Caroline shrugged, sitting up.

"Well, Stefan isn't Damon. He won't bang everything that walks." Bonnie said, walking around the room aimlessly.

"Damon's not that bad. He's all wifed up now so I doubt he'll be banging anyone except Princess Elena. Besides, he's never had sex with you." Caroline said pointedly, and when Bonnie gave her a nervous look she raised her eyebrows. "You had sex with Damon?" She exclaimed loudly and Bonnie only laughed.

"I'm joking, I can't even tolerate him." Bonnie muttered. "Why would I have sex with him?" The question was rhetorical but Caroline answered.

"Because he's a God in human form and good in the sack."

The two girls laughed, lying down to get ready for their sleepover.

* * *

"Is there such a thing as having withdrawals from your hot girlfriend?" Damon asked the phone, lying down on the couch tiredly.

"Um, I don't think that's a thing. You can't go a day without having sex?" Alaric asked back, shifting on the other end of the phone.

"Wait, why are you gone again?" Damon questioned bluntly, putting his feet up on the coffee table.

"My grandmother just died, Damon, have a little respect." Alaric sputtered. "Do you care about anyone other than yourself?"

"I care about Elena." Damon stated.

"Really? That's weird." Alaric said sarcastically.

"Anyways, get your ass home, I'm bored and it's strange drinking alone." Damon said to his best friend.

"I'll be home tomorrow afternoon. See you then."

"Bye Ric! I love you!" Damon heard the click of Alaric's phone and sighed, tossing it onto the table. It was ten o'clock, meaning he had two hours to nap before he went to Elena's.

* * *

"Damon," Elena laughed. "Shhhhh. I told you to be quiet." She whispered, knowing Jeremy had probably already heard them. Damon had only been over for a few minutes and they probably already blew their cover. A hiccup escaped Elena's mouth and Damon immediately stopped moving against her. Another one.

"Oh, fuck me." Elena cursed herself, untangling herself from her boyfriend's body to allow him to roll off of her. "This isn't working, Damon. Bad idea." She said, hiccupping again. Damon started laughing and she hit him with a pillow.

"Then maybe you should tell Jenna and Jeremy to wear headphones to bed." Damon suggested and she rolled her eyes, turning to face him so that they were both lying on their sides, looking at each other. "Or I have a better idea."

"What's that?" She said between hiccups. Damon kissed her hard for a few seconds longer than normal. She scrunched her eyebrows as he drew back. "That was your idea?"

"No, that was to get rid of your hiccups so that I could tell you my idea and you wouldn't interrupt me." Damon told her, and they both waited silently for the hiccups but they never came. "Good. Okay, so, do you remember a couple months ago when we were in the hospital?"

"Ummm, yeah." She said curiously, snuggling closer to his warm body.

"Do you remember that bet we made?" Damon smirked.

"Yes." She said, raising an eyebrow.

"I won." He finished. She stared at him for a long time, debating on whether she should move or not. "I think it's time that you moved in with me, Elena Gilbert. We wouldn't have to worry about Jenna, and Stefan sleeps down the hall so he can't hear us, plus he's usually out with Caroline anyways. And that means we'll always be together, and when school starts up again, I could drive you and pick you up, and we could go on dates…"

Elena cut him off by tackling his lips eagerly. She was practically on top of him, her tongue swirling around in his mouth, her hands roaming his chest. When she finally pulled away she gave him a bright smile.

"So that's a yes?"

"Yes." She whispered.

* * *

"I think this is the first time we've actually been to one of these together." Elena said, clasping her hand in Damon's as they walked up the steps of the Lockwood Mansion. "Let's try not to punch anyone out today, okay babe?"

"Hands to myself." Damon put up his palms up in means of surrender. "Unless they're on you. The Lockwoods do have quite a large bathroom; it'll be easier than in Bonnie's."

"What will be easier?" Bonnie asked, mounting the steps behind them.

Damon looked away from the girls with a smile on his face so that Bonnie couldn't see.

"Nothing." Elena said quickly, "Let's get inside before the toasts start." She opened the door for the dark skinned girl and Jeremy, who was running up the steps. She looked back at Damon who was unsuccessfully attempting to cover up his grin. "Shut up." She said, pulling him towards the party.

Carol Lockwood was finally done her hour long speech, inviting everyone outside to the backyard for dancing. The entire party was three hours longer than it was supposed to be, Elena and Damon got back to her house at two in the morning. He kissed her goodnight and retreated to his car, where she watched him speed back to the boardinghouse.

"It's a shame, you know." A familiar voice tuned in. "Damon wasting his love on you. Kind of pathetic."

"Better he waste it on you?" Elena asked, moving past Katherine and towards the house, but Katherine stepped in front of her before she could close the door.

"Yes, actually." Katherine gave a shrug.

"What do you want? It's late, I'm tired." Elena said, turning to look at the girl. Her face was dimly lit, but Elena could tell she looked exhausted.

"I'm here to talk to you, actually."

"Aren't we already doing that?" Elena asked, brushing a hand through her hair.

"I'm sorry-" Katherine started but Elena cut her off.

"I don't have time for this, Katherine. I was willing to listen, but I stop when you start lying."

"I'm sorry about Klaus." She said. Elena was quiet. "I'm sorry he blamed you. It's not your fault they're dead. It was an accident."

"Why are you apologizing?"

"Klaus is scary. He hurt me in ways you can't understand, but it gets personal when loved ones are involved. You think you can take it, but you can't Elena." Katherine said, placing a hand on the side of the house. "Klaus isn't done. But until he finds a way out, you should lay low." She finished. "I'm leaving town tonight."

"Where will you go?" Elena asked quietly.

"Canada. I hear it's nice this time of year." Katherine turned around, descending the front steps.

"Katherine." Elena stopped her. "Thank you." Katherine gave a smile when she turned to look back at the girl.

"I know." She said, continuing her way down, then walking down the pathway. Elena watched her until she disappeared into the dark of the night, and then moved inside the house, hoping to find Jeremy.

He was sitting on his bed, talking on the phone when she entered his room.

"Yeah, Bonnie, I've got to go." Jeremy said. "Love you too, goodnight." He said, hanging up as Elena stalked over to his bed.

"How about a sleepover?" She asked. He smiled up at his sister and moved to get under the covers, lifting up the blanket for her.

"Jeremy?" she asked, when they'd fallen into a comfortable silence.

"Yes?" he replied.

"I was talking to Damon last night about when you were in the hospital." She said. "Can you tell me what else happened when you were dreaming?" She asked. Jeremy turned to look at his sister then smiled.

"Sure."

* * *

**So that was short and bad. i apologize for such an awful chapter. the next chapter will be the last, so catch up before i finish! reviews are loved!**


	25. The End

**I question not if thrushes sing,  
If roses load the air;  
Beyond my heart I need not reach  
When all is summer there.**

**- John Vance Cheney**

"I'm sorry I haven't called in a couple days." Elena spoke through the phone, slightly distracted by the papers in front of her. "Yeah, I've been really busy with this graduation assignment thingy. I've barely made it out of the house in a week." She told her aunt.

"Oh that's alright, sweetie. I figured it was just Damon busying you. So, how have you been? You're graduating high school in a few days… That must feel weird."

"Yeah, no it feels good. I can finally relax and think about what I want to do with my future." Elena smiled, looking down at the outline for her assignment. "I mean, I'd probably think you were crazy if you told me I'd be living with my boyfriend a year ago, and yet I'm here. Everything's really crazy around here."

Elena smiled when Stefan walked into the parlor, eyeing the work she had in front of her. She knew Stefan was procrastinating on his assignment as well; she'd been trying to get him to work on it for the past week.

"I know. I'm happy you're happy though. I know I wasn't all on board with this you and Damon thing, but I can see how much happier you are. You don't have to deal with all the craziness you had to put up with over summer. Things are mellow relationship wise." Jenna sighed over the phone and Elena jotted something down in her notes.

"Yeah, well, I have to go kick Stefan's ass to get him to do this assignment, but I'll call you later." Elena said her goodbyes to her aunt and looked up at Stefan who was eating ketchup chips. "Stef, come on. Don't you want to feel that accomplishment when you finally finish your last high school paper?"

"You feel that?" Damon asked, strolling into the room. "That's weird, I've never felt that."

"You haven't been in high school for like, a decade now, so…" Elena muttered, and Damon glared at her.

"Ouch. Did you just call me old?" He asked. Stefan sighed, eating a few chips.

"Well, yeah." Elena shrugged, then turned towards the youngest brother. "Come on Stefan, I'll help you write the first chapter."

"Elena, just because you want to be a writer, doesn't mean you have to do Stefan's homework for him." Damon said, raising an eyebrow at his brother. "Stefan, do your homework before my girlfriend kicks your ass." He said, sitting on the arm of the chair Elena was currently occupying.

Stefan sighed, slouching over and leaving the room dramatically.

"So, are you almost done, I'm bored." He stated, turning to look down at her.

She gave a short laugh. "Uh, no. I have ten or so pages left."

"Damn." He groaned. "Actually, this gives me time to talk to Blondie." He stood, pulling on his leather jacket.

"Caroline?" Elena asked. "Why do you need to talk to her?" Elena's eyes were still glued to her paper as she made more notes. "You two aren't trying to ruin each others lives still, are you?"

"Nope. Me and Barbie are perfectly civil, love." Damon smirked. "Now give me a kiss." He leaned over and she turned her head towards him to give him a quick peck on the lips.

"Have fun." She called, when he turned to leave the house.

* * *

"Okay, so I don't know how to start the second chapter." Stefan sat with Bonnie and Elena on the floor of the parlor. They all had thousands of papers in front of them, throwing ideas at each other.

"You guys are still doing this?" Caroline asked, following Damon into the house. "I finished this paper like, a week ago."

"Well, not everyone's an over achiever, Car." Bonnie sighed, frantically writing on the lined paper. Caroline gave a shrug and took a seat next to Damon on the couch.

"Okay, so you guys are all coming to my graduation party right?"

"When is that, babe?" Stefan asked, turning his head to look at her. Stefan and Caroline had been going steady for ten months now, and the two were so happy together. Damon poured himself a glass of bourbon and sat so that he was behind Elena, who sat with her legs sprawled out on the floor, her back against the couch.

"Saturday night." Caroline explained, going into detail about how awesome her party's going to be. Damon leaned forward when he didn't want to listen anymore and rested his head on Elena's shoulder, reading her work over her shoulder.

"Where's the part about me?" He asked, eyeing the friend section of her autobiography.

"You are chapter seven." She said, scrawling something down under Bonnie's name.

"Oooh, an entire chapter. Have I ever told you how much I love you?" Damon smiled, kissing the nape of her neck before leaning on the back of the couch again, swirling her hair between his fingers.

Caroline was finishing talking about her new bathing suit when the couple tuned back into the conversation. She turned to Damon curiously.

"Hmm, you're kind of not a high school graduate, should I disinvite you?" She asked.

"Caroline, to be honest, I only accepted because it means I'll get some from a drunken Elena." Damon shrugged and Elena hit him on the leg, sighing and turning back to her work.

"Well, I can't invite Alaric, so it will basically be you and a bunch of teenagers."

Damon sighed. "Please, disinvite me."

"No, you're coming." Elena argued.

"Um, Car, that means we have to go shopping for a new bathing suit for me." Bonnie chimed in once she finished chapter nine.

"Sounds good, Elena you in?" Caroline looked towards Elena who gave a distracted nod.

"Good, well, I have other obligations," Caroline stood, sweeping blonde hair out of her eyes. "So, I'll pick you guys up at five tomorrow for the mall." She said, moving towards Stefan and bending down so she could press an upside down kiss on his lips.

She waved to everyone except Damon, who she glared at, then left the house.

* * *

Late that night, Damon spooned Elena on the large bed of 'their' room. Elena loved how things were going with him. They lived together, she felt so grown up. She wasn't naïve little Elena anymore. She and Damon were really serious and just being around him made her feel slightly older. No one ever really approved of Damon, they just accepted him. He was seven years older than her, which impacted their relationship greatly because she was so young.

Damon nuzzled his face into her neck and breathed in her scent.

"I'm sorry." He whispered in her ear, pressing a sweet kiss to the back of her neck.

"For what?" She asked curiously.

"You're still a kid. I feel like I'm taking away you're youth. You can't experience those hookups at parties or you have to tell off boys your age because you have a 25 year old boyfriend. I know that must suck for you." Damon murmured.

Elena turned in his arms so that she could cup his face in her hands.

"Damon, I don't want that. I don't want to be with anyone else. You know I love you; I'd never want anything else. Age doesn't bother me." She gave him a reassuring smile and waited for his nod. Elena leaned in to give him a kiss. The sweet, harmless kiss turned into a more passionate fiery one. Elena felt as if her lips would burn from the intensity. When he drew back she smiled.

"I love you." She whispered.

"I love you." He repeated, bringing her into his arms again.

* * *

"Elena Gilbert." The principal of Mystic Falls High School announced, and Elena made her way up to the podium, where he gave out the scrolls. Elena heard the few yells of joy from her friends in the crowd and turned to look around.

Jenna and Jeremy sat a couple rows behind the small amount of graduates. Damon sat right behind Stefan, leaning on his chair and whispering something to him. Caroline was in one of the closer rows because of her last name, which came right after Elena's. Bonnie sat in the front row, clapping happily for her best friend. Elena received the scroll, admiring the blue ribbon on the outside.

But then she looked harder at the diploma, noticing it wasn't like any of the others. The principal nudged her a little and told her to open it. Her eyes were so glued to the paper that she didn't notice the shifting of people around her.

_Elena Gilbert,_

_As much as it pains me to say this, you are the one good thing in my life. I've known it from the first time we kissed and I still know it now. I don't care how different we are from each other, or how much older I am than you, because it feels like we're so much the same. I never want to be with anyone else, I can't even imagine my life without you. I know you're young, and you have a lot to experience in your life, but I want to be with you the entire way. _

_Marry me,_

_Damon Salvatore._

Elena felt her heart stop. She felt a hand on her waist turn her slowly. Damon stood there, all sweet and vulnerable looking, holding a box out to her.

"Marry me, Elena Gilbert." He said, and it seemed the microphone was pointing towards them, because his voice and her shaky breaths echoed through out the large banquet room. He opened the box to reveal an antique looking ring. Emerald with a silver setting. She took in a large breath and looked up into his eyes. They were so blue.

"Say yes, already!" Elena heard a familiar voice yell from the crowd. Caroline. Damon smirked and nodded his head towards the audience as if to agree with Caroline.

Elena nodded before she could speak. "Yes. Yes!" She said quickly and Damon let out a relieved breath, sliding the ring into place on her finger. She immediately threw her arms around him, placing a searing kiss on his perfect lips. He dropped the box, and she the letter, wrapping their arms around each other for a moment before drawing back.

The crowd erupted into clapping and cheering and Elena turned to look out at the people. She saw Jenna and Jeremy, smiles plastered on their faces. Bonnie and Stefan were clapping up and her, and Caroline sat back on her chair, not clapping, but her only hint of satisfaction was the large smirk on her face.

"Miss. Gilbert." The principal smiled, handing her the real diploma. She laughed; embracing him for a picture, then grabbed Damon's hand and hastily dragged him off the stage.

"I can't believe you just did that in front of thousands of people." She gushed, turning back to look at him.

"Always been one for the dramatics." Damon laughed, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and bringing her in to his side to kiss her hair.

* * *

Elena cringed as Stefan ran passed her and did a flip into the pool. She got a few droplets of water on her baby blue strapless bikini but sighed, smiling at the crowded estate. Caroline's house looked huge until it was filled with hundreds of people dancing and swimming and drinking. Luckily, Sheriff Forbes had agreed to one night of unsupervised partying, turning her head at the underage kids.

Damon rounded the bar with two shots in his hands. "Baby, I've found your poison." He set a clear substance in front of her and she tilted her head at him.

"Is this going to make me pass out?" She asked skeptically, smelling the drink as if it really were poison. Damon gave a short laugh but urged her to pick up the glass. When she did, he clinked his against hers and downed the drink quickly. She made a face of disgust and shook her head at the gross alcohol.

Damon seemed to actually like it, and gave her a goofy smile, leaning in to press a kiss against her lips.

"Damon," She said, bringing his attention back to her after a couple moments of watching Bonnie, Stefan and Caroline in the pool. "I'm happy." She said, flashing her ring at him. "This is the best graduation gift ever."

"Well, don't speak too soon." Damon shrugged, giving her a smirk. "I saw Stefan wrapping a Super Soaker."

"He got me a water gun?" She asked, smiling at Stefan who was currently being attacked by both girls.

"I think he wants to duel you." Damon said, pulling her onto his lap on his bar stool. His face turned serious as he pressed a kiss to her bare shoulder. "I'm happy too."

"I'm going to be Elena Salvatore one day." Elena stated, playing with the hands that were wrapped around her. Despite the madness going on around them, the two looked so serene. Slightly buzzed, but calm.

"Elena Salvatore." Damon smiled against her skin. "That has to be the best thing I've heard all day."

Elena laughed and turned so that she straddled his waist.

"I will love you forever." She whispered, wrapping her arms around his waist and kissing his soft lips.

* * *

**that's it! you got you're sappy ending :) i hope you guys liked the story, i'm really proud of it; but i think it was time to end it. it wasn't going anywhere else. so reviews for my last chapter will be loved and i hope you guys look out for more of my stories because i'm planning on posting another one really soon.**

**thankyou for all the support, love you guys, **

**accidentalmurder.  
**


	26. Update

**Hello friends! I just wanted to thank everyone for all their reviews and subscriptions to this story. I'm sorry I ended it all of a sudden but I felt the story had no more angles to search. I've started a new story called 'It's All Downhill From Here'. It is rated M but I doubt there'll be much smut because I've never written a smut story and I don't think I'm any good. I think it's more for language and sexual references and content more than the actual smut. It is a different story from how I've written some of my others but I'm trying a couple new writing angles. You can check it out here: **

**.net/story/story_?storyid=7119767&chapter=1**

**So again, I want to thank everyone for reading Summer Lovin' and I hope you check this story out.**


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